Revealed Identities
by Jelp
Summary: With Luke's help, Anakin has managed to turn back from the darkside, but will anyone else be able to accept that Vader's not the monster he once was? Edit: 2/6/11.
1. Chapter 1: Vader's Findings

I started writing this story over nine years ago. I decided to give this a much needed revamp. Not only has my writing style changed, but since this was written before RotS, there are some things that still need to be fixed to make it fit into the regular Star Wars universe. A few things I've changed here and there: such as the format. The former formatting was atrocious and very difficult to read. While I have attempted to spot check the grammar and spelling errors, I'm sure some have still slipped through. This takes place roughly between ANH and ESB. Quite a few of the characters are OC, though I have slipped in a few EU characters to try and make it fit. Enjoy!

I don't own Star Wars or its characters. George Lucas does. Lucky guy.

_Reformatted/spot-checked February 6, 2011._

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 1: Vader's Findings**

Vader had felt the presence of the Admiral approaching him; the raw spike of fear followed by his potent relief had informed the dark lord that he had a visitor as soon as the man had landed in the docking bay. If the man felt relief then it meant that he did not expect to fail the Sith lord.

"Yes Admiral?" Vader asked, his back facing the commander, gazing out upon the vast star systems. Once, as a boy, he had asked if anyone had been to them all and declared that he would be the first to accomplish that task. So far, he was over half way to his goal. Not that such childish things mattered anymore.

"We have the information that you requested." Admiral Zephery produced a data card from his jacket. "The name of the Rebel responsible for destroying the Death Star."

A wave of curiosity washed over the Sith. He had felt the raw, un-tainted power of the pilot. It had been an incredible feeling, one that he hoped to have the pleasure of sensing again. Never before had he felt an untrained Force user so strong. The power was incredible. Something about the boy's presence had called to him, made him hesitate about demolishing him. It had cost Vader the once chance to kill the pilot.

The first time that he had come into contact with the boy was immediately after Kenobi's death. Kenobi had been shielding the boy from him, but why? Was he Kenobi's new apprentice?

Perhaps the rare guidance of the Force had stilled his hand? But how could that be? Rarely did the Force give him such insight anymore. His power had grown so strong that it had blacked out the useful but tedious gift of foresight unless it was of death and suffering. The one thing that had once come so easily to him as a child now seemed to have seeped out of his hands. Kenobi had not taught him well enough to keep it.

Vader allowed himself a twisted and painful smile as his mouth stretched upon his face, the scars groaning in protest at the action. The synth-flesh used to heal his wounds from Mustafar cracked with the effort. Idly he made a mental note to reassess his health in the near future. In the mean time, his thoughts dwelled on how he would train the boy and take Obi-Wan's precious Jedi from him. A fitting revenge to twist Kenobi's apprentice to serve the darkside.

"Load the data into the nava computer," Vader murmured, a sense of wonder coming over him. Strange that he did not feel angrier. The pilot had killed thousands of his troops, denting the people's faith in the Empire, giving the Rebels that much more to hope for. Yet he felt a strange connection to the boy. He was soon about to find out why. Zephery keyed in the right codes and uploaded the pilot's name.

_Luke Skywalker._

Darth Vader froze, the name chilling him and frightening him more than anything had in a long time. Skywalker. His name. No, correction, his former name. It wasn't possible. The holo-recording of his wife's funeral and the obvious bulge in her stomach flashed before his mind. Logic told him he couldn't have a...

"What further information do you have on him?" Vader hissed, not letting himself finish his thought. Logic was one thing, but his instincts were screaming at him something far different.

"All that we could find, sir, was some information on his father," the Admiral supplied, deathly afraid that the lack of information on the pilot would get him killed. The relief he had once felt slipping way at Vader's apparent lack of interest.

"And?" Vader breathed, not daring to believe, not daring to hope.

"He appears to be the son of a Clone Wars' hero. His name was Anakin Skywalker, first appearing some years before the Clone Wars during the trade blockade of Naboo-"

"That is all I wanted to know." Vader's mind swirled. A son. He had a son! Palpatine would not be happy, but it didn't matter. Vader had changed the order of the Jedi, and he was not particularly interested in keeping with the idea of only two Sith if it meant something greater. Vader would find the boy, and Palpatine be damned, he would train him to follow in his footsteps.

"You said his name is Luke? What does he look like?" Vader demanded, a strange sort of pride and possessiveness coming over him.

"We have no picture-"

"How can you have no picture? Wasn't he on the Death Star?" Vader demanded. He was sure it had been the same boy. Vader relished the sudden spike of the Admiral's fear, fueling his own rage that he didn't even know what the child looked like.

"Milord, as the data aboard the Death Star was not yet backed into the HoloNet as Tarkin had all power being routed into utilizing the weapon's system. We were unable to obtain footage from there. However, " the Admiral continued on, trying not to show complete failure, "we do have a physical description of him. He has sandy blonde hair, blue eyes. Height 1.72 meters; age: 18; homeworld: Tatooine-"

"Tatooine?" Vader interrupted, his voice dripping with anger.

"Yes milord," Admiral Zephery stuttered. Of course, Vader thought with dry amusement, the Jedi made him live on the one planet his father hated most. The one planet, of course, where he would never venture to because of his loathing for it. Only two planets had he refused to visit again: Tatooine and Naboo. And as Palpatine had no such qualms about returning to Naboo, Tatooine was the most logical choice. Vader felt foolish for letting his hatred overcome him like that. He might have even been able to have felt his son's presence before if he had gone to Tatooine when they were looking for the lost droids, but of course, Vader had not had the nerve to. He had kept Anakin Skywalker at bay, buried deep down. He should not fear that other side. And once he turned the boy, he would never need worry about Anakin resurfacing to threaten the Sith. Vader slammed his fist into one of the terminals, causing the Admiral to jump.

"I want a bounty on him immediately," Vader instructed.

"Dead, of course?" the Admiral replied, coming over his shock.

"No. I want him alive, and if he is killed, the man who kills him will suffer humiliation beyond words, death, as well as the death and destruction of everything he holds dear to him." Vader sucked in a steadying breath against the whistling of his respirator. He was too passionate about this. One should never let his emotions interfere with what was needed to be done. It was a lesson he'd never learned.

"Yes, yes milord."

"Place a bounty of a hundred trillion credits." Admiral Zephery's eyes widened in amazement. "Alive only, and remember the consequences if he is killed." Zephery nodded, and then the Admiral stood there for a minute.

"Dismissed Admiral," Vader's voice rumbled out the words. The Admiral walked out of the dimly lit computer station with great speed, not caring of his dignity, only his life. Idly, Vader thought about contacting the Emperor. He would need to at some point. No doubt the Emperor would ask why he was not consulted first. But as with many things in his life, Vader knew it better to ask forgiveness than permission. After all, he rarely asked for forgiveness. Palpatine could figure out what he would. He'd been promised his wife and unborn child's safe being if he served the dark. If his master questioned him, Vader would throw his master's promise back at him.

Vader opened a com-link channel to the armory.

"Yes milord?" One of the men stood at attention, suddenly alert and fearful.

"I want the probe droids to be sent out across the galaxy in search of Luke Skywalker." This would be the perfect time to test the new prototype probe droids. He sent the man the data that he had on Skywalker: the only things that he knew about his son. That would change. A vision swarmed into Vader's mind: an Empire where things were moderately peaceful, where he was the Emperor, and his son his next in line, his heir. Yes, that would be the perfect universe. Vader would have his son, and in time, his vision would become reality.

**Next part...Quick Cash**


	2. Chapter 2: Quick Cash

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 2: Quick Cash**

Luke couldn't believe his eyes as he read over the report that Leia had handed him. "There's got to be some sort of mistake." Luke rasped out, looking at the 100,000,000,000,000 figure in front of him. "Some sort of misprint. And why would they want me alive?" Leia shrugged her shoulders, wishing that she had some sort of answer for her friend.

"Does the entire Rebellion even have this much money?" Luke asked in wonderment.

"I sincerely doubt it," Leia sighed, clearly unnerved at the Empire's sudden interest in one of her best friends. General Nekem had handed the report to her, obviously shaken by it himself.

"Do you think it would just be better if we had it arranged so that I got captured and the Rebellion used the reward?" Luke looked at her, his voice and his face deathly serious.

"Are you insane? That might be exactly what they want us to do to set a trap. Either that, or you're more important than you know," Leia said, her voice dropping to a whisper. She didn't add that it was likely that the Empire had put out a preposterous amount that they didn't expect to pay. It wouldn't be unheard of for them to kill the very person who brought Luke to them to stop them from collecting the reward. But it was better to boost Luke's ego than to worry him.

"Still, why do they want me alive? To torture me?" Luke visibly paled.

"All the more reason we're not going to find out. You'll just have to stay hidden, Commander," Leia said, adding his new title. Luke blushed slightly; he still hadn't gotten used to that.

"Go get some sleep," Leia ordered.

"Yeah...I'll really be able to sleep after this," Luke mumbled, handing her the datapad back.

General Nekem looked at the report again. One hundred trillion credits! All of that money...think of what the Rebellion could use with it. General Rieekan, Dodonna, and Mon Mothma would likely refuse to give over one of their own, but the lives that could be saved with that amount of money. A plan formed in his mind. Yes, he would have that money; all he needed was the right time to capture Skywalker...

Luke got up the next morning feeling, and probably looking, like a bantha had sat on him. He sighed, getting on his flight suit for his first flight today with his assigned pilots, Rogue Squadron. He knew all of them already, but he didn't know them that well. Luke felt incredibly awkward as soon as he had been assigned to lead them. He was younger than all of them. Luckily for him, they were all nice. Well, sort of. They bantered, but it was welcomed. He didn't know how to react to the hero status he'd received from blowing up the Death Star. Killing lots of people, even if necessary, still didn't sit well with him. Joking with a bunch of guys: that he could understand.

"Ready Rogues?" Luke asked, gearing up into his seat. R2 beeped his own affirmative in the back.

All of them responded as the pre-flight scans ran.

Luke ordered them into the air as all of them hit the skies. He wasn't sure if it was because it was something that he knew he felt himself, but Luke imagined he could feel the elation and euphoria washing over his men as they ascended and soared over the base. Maybe it was his awakened awareness in the Force, but Luke felt a greater link to the men who shared his love for flying.

The planet they were on, Usherkan, had excellent weather conditions for flying in their skies, but for getting into the atmosphere surrounding the planet was another story. High in the atmosphere a small stretch of broken asteroids hung suspended in the sky. They had purposefully picked the spot below the natural satellites to make it difficult for the scanners to identify life forms below. It would be tricky to maneuver his X-Wing in between the planetary debris, but not impossible. Luke had decided to take his squadron out today to run some drills in order to prepare them for defending the base through the asteroids. Knowing their surroundings would give them a greater edge if they needed to make a hasty escape from the Imperials.

Lifting the nose of his ship about five degrees higher, he made a straight course for the clearest path. He instructed Rogue 2, Wedge Antilles, and Rogue 4 Derek Klivin, who he'd been told preferred "Hobbie" to follow him as they began simple formations through the asteroids. A transmission broke through his systems.

"This is the _Young Runner_, entering planetary shields. Who is coming from the other end?" A voice crackled through the X-Wing's speakers. They were tuned into their coded frequency which meant that it had to be someone friendly. But…there was just something nagging at Luke. _Young Runner_ was not a ship he'd been aware of had access to land near them.

"This is an Alliance Squad out for a test run. Are you friend or foe to us?" Luke asked while he told R2 to get a reading on the ship's shields and weapons. R2 warbled in the back that they had blocked any reading of their systems. Luke frowned. He opened a private com to Wedge, the only pilot he felt he knew.

"What do you think Antilles?" Luke asked.

"Something about them doesn't seem right; they're blocking my scans. Yet they have our private squadron frequency." Luke was glad he wasn't the only one who had a bad feeling about this.

"_Young Runner_ crew, what is your purpose?" Luke waited a few minutes, allowing them enough time to sort through their priorities, but something about them was giving him a _very_ bad feeling. He slowed his X-Wing down until he could get a reading on that ship, or until he could at least see it.

"Rogues, line up in Gremming Attack formation." As the leader, Luke took point in the formation as he saw Wedge and Hobbie coming in on his scopes. But before the other pilots could follow his orders, Luke felt the hull of his X-Wing being pulled into a tractor beam onto one of the larger asteroids.

"Artoo, see if you can jam their tractor frequencies! We might still be able-" A blue energy beam blasted from seemingly nowhere, hitting Luke's X-Wing, disabling his mobility, and violently shaking him in his seat.

His body slammed forward, and it was only then that he realized his restraining straps had been tampered with! They no longer supported him with the necessary restraint. He lurched forward in his seat, the belt only restricting him far enough that it didn't send him completely careening through the glass. In the sudden lurch back he banged his head against the control panel, knocking him out on impact.

* * *

"General Nekem?"

"Yes?" The General looked down at his computer terminal, the information already scrolling across the screen.

"We captured the X-Wing you asked for." The man on the other end explained. Nekem smiled.

"He's alive?"

"As per your orders." After all, it wasn't as though Nekem wanted Skywalker dead. He respected the man, he did, but it was better for everyone this way.

"Your credits have already been transferred into your account sir." Nekem smirked. A hundred thousand credits for Skywalker's body seemed like nothing compared to what he was going to receive.

* * *

"Milord," Admiral Zephery stood before Darth Vader. Vader felt darkly amused by the Admiral's thoughts. He felt life was being unfair that he had to come in front of the Dark Lord twice in less than a week.

"What is it Admiral?" Vader wondered. If one knew the regular breathing patterns of the dark lord, they would have noticed that he had just inhaled a sharp breath. Vader felt what was coming next, before the Admiral even spoke it. He could feel the Force burning brightly close by. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small cruiser had just dropped from hyperspace into real space. The Force presence on board burned brightly.

"We have Skywalker."

"Bring him to me." Vader commanded.

"As you wish."

Luke groaned as he sat up. He looked around him, wondering where in the galaxy he could be. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, that was until he tried to rub his head and realized that his hands were tied.

"This can't be good." Luke whined to himself, trying to tear at his bonds. He looked around the small room, noting that it was furnished rather nicely. Though he did wonder where he was, and why he was there. His head felt groggy, and Luke had the distinct impression that someone had sedated him.

It started to come back to him when the door opened up. Luke sat up straight on the bed he was lying on when he heard a very familiar, and very infamous, wheezing respirator.

"A pleasure to see you again, young Skywalker." Vader said as he walked into the room.

"Sir? What about the man who brought him?" Luke noticed a nervous looking Admiral standing in Vader's shadow. His own shock was soon wracked with not only nerves, but a terrible, overwhelming sense of fear. Vader had him!

"Pay him. We will track the money and find the location of their base. Also, send a transmission to one of our implants to inform the Rebels about Nekem's Imperial trade and cause discord among the leaders. I am sure that they will be most displeased to learn that he was the one behind the kidnapping of young Skywalker. Leave us." Vader commanded, and the Admiral all but scampered away. He turned his attention to Luke. The betrayal was subdued by his fear that he wouldn't live long enough to worry about General Nekem.

"I have a proposal for you."

**Next part...Reactions**


	3. Chapter 3: Reactions

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 3: Reactions**

Luke looked at Darth Vader in disbelief. The dark lord had a proposal for him? That was hardly believable. He knew that Vader did what he wanted, no questions asked. If there was a proposal, it meant that it would be in Vader's favor.

"You think that you know me that well?" Vader voiced, seemingly reading Luke's thoughts. With a sudden shudder, Luke was not sure that he couldn't.

"Why should I listen to any proposal of yours? If you're going to kill me, or start torturing me, you better start now because I'm not going to tell you anything." Luke bit out, a bit of his personal hatred for Vader seeping into his voice. That _thing_, who could hardly be called a man, who killed his father just stood and looked at him.

Vader looked at his son with greedy eyes. The boy's eyes showed only hatred, and his Force presence darkened visibly with his hatred towards his own father. Vader's mood darkened when he realized that the boy's anger was at him. If the boy only knew, Vader thought, then he would respect me.

On the other hand, if Luke really was like he had been at that age, the darkside could be fueled by that hate. His first small step towards the darkside had been when he was thirteen, when he had killed that slave trader who had dared to frighten his mother.

"I have a proposal for you," Vader repeated, "one that I am sure you would be most willing to hear."

"I-"

"Hold your tongue, or I will do it for you." Vader threatened, letting Luke feel the Force clamp down his jaws for only a fraction of a second. When he released the Force grip, Luke flexed his jaw, and glared at Vader, a new sense of hatred washing over the boy.

Luke kept his silence.

Vader felt the flow of the Force, and couldn't help but relish in the strength of Luke's Force signature. He was pleased with how quickly his son had been brought to him. He had a feeling that it would not have been so easy if he had not had help from someone so high ranking in the Rebellion. Clearly the man must not have meant Luke any harm – the reward had been for alive after all – so there was no Force warning to help save Luke. After all, that was why all the great Jedi had fallen during Order 66. The clone troopers hadn't wanted to necessarily killed the Jedi who had been their leaders, but it was what they were ordered to do.

Vader had believed he would have time to think through things, but the strange sense to act sooner rather than later washed through him.

"I want to end the brutalities that the Empire is so infamously known for." Luke raised an eyebrow not believing that Vader was serious at all.

"You are behind the brutalities the Empire is known for! What kind of joke is this?" Luke demanded, his eyes blazing. Vader felt amusement wash over him; his son was brave. Not even the Emperor dared to speak to him like his son just had.

"No joke, Luke." This time, a look of confusion passed over Luke's face. Being called his first name by his worst enemy came as somewhat of a surprise, and Vader wanted to see if he could use that to his advantage. "Do you have any idea what it is like to be a puppet? Someone else's game piece? The Emperor made one too many promises that he did not keep for my liking. It is time that he was made to step down." Vader explained, his treasonous words making Luke think.

Luke knew that the Emperor was as evil as anyone got, but it seemed impossible that Vader would actually see that. It was even more unlikely that Vader would tell him. Yet as he reached out, tentatively touching the Force with his underdeveloped Force skills, he felt something akin to the truth. Of course, he wasn't trained enough to know if he could trust Vader. What was Luke thinking? Of course he couldn't trust Vader!

"You are quite strong in the Force. There are no Jedi left. Save you, youngling. Even though your grasp for the Force is fledgling, it could be forged into greatness, greatness enough to overpower the Emperor." Luke frowned. He had a feeling he knew where this speech might be heading now.

"Does that mean you want my help to discredit the Emperor's strength?" Luke asked slowly, his eyes blazing, "You can forget it! I'll never help the man who murdered my father!" Luke spat out. Immediately he noted a change in Vader's mood. He may not have had much experience with the Force, but Vader's mood echoed so strongly, Luke could not help but feel it.

Vader's anger soared. So Obi-Wan had told Luke that he had killed his father. If he had not felt so angry, he might have found some dark amusement in the fact that Luke hated him for killing his father when he, in fact was, his father.

"First of all young one," Vader stepped closer to Luke, making him hunch back slightly in his place, "I do not need your help to discredit Palpatine. I have enough information on him to make the citizens of the Empire to never trust him again. I need someone else strong in the Force to help _kill_ the Emperor. The only thing that has kept me from doing so is my loyalty to him for turning me to the darkside. As for why I want _you_ to help...perhaps you would understand better if you knew what really happened to your father."

* * *

Leia's eyes blazed after she read over Wedge's report. Luke had seemingly been the only target, and they had not been able to take out the vessel in the risk of killing Luke, and they also could not over power the larger ship. She felt dread well up in her as she remembered the incredible bounty placed on Luke. Everyone in the galaxy would want him. Alive, she hoped.

"Princess Leia, we have the information on who hired the smuggler gang to capture Commander Skywalker." C-3PO explained as he hustled into the room, followed immediately by Han Solo who had a look of incredible anger and frustration on his face. She didn't even have to wait for a response before Han exploded in fury.

"That krething traitorous piece of shit!" Han cursed, slamming the file down on the table where Leia and Wedge sat.

"Master Solo! Such language is uncalled for and, as I protocol droid fluent in over six million forms of communications I have no problem saying that such words do not-"

"Shut up Threepio!" Han yelled as he plunked down into the chair next to Leia.

"Nekem!" Han bellowed.

"I'm Leia, remember?" Leia said, unnerved at Han's vulgar attitude.

"No, Nekem! He was the murglak who ordered the attack on Luke. He wanted the money." Han sighed exasperated.

"Why that bastard." Leia breathed in her rage. "Princess Leia, as I told Han-"

"Shut up Threepio!" Han and Leia spat at him in unison.

"What is Nekem's claim?" Wedge asked, his concern seeping through his calm voice. Though he had only known Luke for a short amount of time, he had come to greatly respect his young commander.

"Apparently they have him in a meeting room downstairs." Han explained. Leia looked at the ex-smuggler. She could tell just how much he really cared for Luke, though he knew that he would never admit it.

"Did you send Chewie to look over the meeting?" Leia asked.

Han winced.

"I haven't told him yet. I'm not sure the leaders would appreciate a Wookie coming in, in an attempt to dismember Nekem." Han explained. Leia nodded in understanding. Chewie had also taken a liking to Luke.

"You should tell him. He'll have to get in line behind me after I get through with Nekem," Leia said as she got up. "Come on. I don't want to miss Nekem's pathetic excuses." The other two got up and followed her.

* * *

His father? What on earth did Vader know about his father that he'd be willing to share? And what did he mean what really happened? Would it only be lies to throw him off guard?

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

**Next part...Revealed Identity**


	4. Chapter 4: Revealed Identity

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 4: Revealed Identity**

Han and Chewie sat down next to Leia and Wedge as they heard all the pathetic excuses that Nekem sputtered forth. None of them felt that any of his reasons were truly honest. However, they had missed quite a bit of his story when they went to get Chewie from the hangar bay. Leia quite clearly remembered C-3PO retelling the story that Wookies would rip a man limb by limb in anger and had dismissed it. She hadn't believed it as she had never seen Chewie in rage before, but when they had told him about Luke...she supposed there was some truth to everything that one heard.

Nekem seemed to have heard that rumor too, for he kept throwing nervous glances over at Chewie.

"Like I said, Commander Skywalker and I decided that this would be the best arrangement. We would make it look like he had been kidnapped so that the Empire would not suspect anything. He came to me with the idea that his life would serve better if he could get us that money." Leia felt a twinge of nerves go off as he said that. She remembered clearly Luke thinking just that. Perhaps he had changed his mind...?

But no. Even though she had only known Luke for several months, it was enough time to know that he respected his friends' judgment. He wouldn't have done that. She stood up to voice her thoughts. The interrogator (a short furry alien who had been kicked off of his home world of Yaga Minor when it had become Imperial property) noticed Leia stand.

"Princess Leia, do you have something you would like to add?" Nekem looked at her, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants in a nervous gesture.

"I talked to Commander Skywalker the evening before. He and I spoke briefly about the reward money. Both of us felt that the Empire had pulled this stunt so that we would willingly give him to them and that it was best if he remained hidden. Why would he have lied to me?"

"Perhaps he had not decided then. I talked to him later that night," Nekem explained.

"So in other words, you manipulated him into doing what he knew would be a stupid move in the favor of the Empire?" Leia suggested. Nekem inhaled a deep breath.

"No. Maybe he had had time to rethink things and decided that the Rebellion needed the funds." Nekem was doing a very good job of keeping his face neutral. But something about this didn't seem right. Han spoke up, cutting Leia's musings short.

"Where's the money?" Han asked.

"It was transferred to the Alliance." Nekem explained.

"That's funny, because I checked up on this, and I found that the money was put into one of your accounts." Nekem didn't even falter.

"I didn't want the Empire to be able to link it to the Alliance."

"Then why did you transfer some of you own money to a smuggling group?" Nekem's face flushed, and he didn't say anything.

"You weren't planning to transfer any money to the Alliance." The interrogator prompted gently.

"Of course the money is for the Alliance!" Nekem sounded outraged. Leia's own outrage was far greater.

"You know what I think? I think you were going to transfer the money to the Alliance, but you were going to do it slowly. You didn't want us to know that you had gone behind our backs and betrayed Luke to the Empire," Leia snarled.

"You gotta remember, Nekem, I've worked with these smugglers before, I talked to them, and they were real informative about _your _directions," Han added, explaining his experience. Nekem became furious.

"You will take this man's word over mine? A common smuggler and nothing but a bunch of filth? He hasn't even sworn his allegiance to us! He-" Han had been staring blaster bolts at him until he finally pulled out a datachip.

"Your direct orders," Han growled, tossing the data to the interrogator. He looked at it quizzically, and made the human equivalent of raising his eyebrows. Leia smiled over at Han. Lucky that he still had his smuggling contacts. The interrogator put the disk into a nearby computer unit. The list showed a direct call to a group of smugglers, with Nekem's signature at the bottom.

"Not smart to sign your name on illegal documents," Han shot at Nekem. The interrogator nodded.

"I believe we have our answers. Your trial will be held in two weeks time. I hope that you will have the good sense to remain here. If you leave base, you will automatically be presumed as an Imperial spy. You're dismissed." Nekem stormed out of the room, and all of the others in the room followed, except for Han, Wedge, Leia, and Chewie.

"Do you think Luke's okay?" Leia asked worriedly. Her question had been aimed more toward Han, but it was Wedge who answered.

"He's a Rogue. He'll be able to handle anything that the Empire throws at him." Wedge assured her.

* * *

Vader looked at Luke, knowing full well that he had gotten his attention by saying something about his father. Through the Force, Vader felt Luke's emotions, a blend of burning hate and a yet a mind full of raging curiosity. All in all, Vader surmised that he would let Luke on their little secret.

"Your father isn't dead. At least, not in the way you think," Vader explained cryptically. This explanation just fueled Luke's hatred.

"Either you're dead or you're not," Luke argued.

"You'll find that things are not just black and white. There are many shades of gray in between."

"Riddles now?" Luke barked impatiently.

"Patience was never your father's strong point," Vader said amused. With a wave of the Force, Vader undid the restraints that bound his son. "It is not yours either."

"First riddles, now games?" Luke asked, rubbing the spot where his wrists had been bound tightly. He wished he could remember what had happened to him after he blacked out in his X-wing so that he knew how and who had captured him.

"Stand up," Vader ordered. When Luke refused, he growled a threat. "Or I'll do it for you."

Luke sighed. He knew that his powers were no match against Vader's. He hadn't had enough training or enough practice. He just wished he knew why the dark lord was toying with him like this. Luke stood up, glaring at the man standing before him.

Vader sauntered forward until he stood at arms' length from Luke. Luke didn't flinch, and even held his gaze un-wavering. With a sudden whish of his cape, Vader's hands came up and wrapped around his son in an embrace.

Luke's first thought was that Vader was going to crush him to death, but even his barely trained Force sense could pick out the fact that Darth Vader was not going to hurt him. In fact, in utter disbelief and bemusement, Luke had the dim notion, the utterly impossible idea, that Darth Vader was hugging him. Hugging him! Luke pushed against the dark lord, and Vader loosed his hold on him. With jerky motions, Luke backed up, and ran into the wall.

"What do you want from me?" Luke asked, shock settling in. When Vader had "hugged" him, something inside him had screamed that something about it was right, and comforting. Luke wasn't sure he wanted to know why.

Darth Vader, himself, was startled. For a moment, he was transported nearly twenty years back in time when he had flesh limbs, imagining himself picking up his and his wife's child. For an instant, he'd seen Luke as a young child, looking at his father with welcome, open arms, not the stubborn young man he saw before him. However, the Force vision had proved useful; it certainly had unsettled Luke enough that he might be able to accept the truth.

"I want you to join me. As I said, you would understand it better if you knew what happened to your father. He is alive, and I know him inside and out, and I know he wants you to join me."

"How do you know?" Luke asked, his voice hardly audible. Before Vader even spoke them, something in Luke knew what was coming.

"Because, Luke, I am your father."

**Next part...The Emperor's Bidding**


	5. Chapter 5: The Emperor's Bidding

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 5: The Emperor's Bidding**

Luke stared at Darth Vader with a mixture of horror and disbelief on his face. "No." Luke whispered, shaking his head. Vader just couldn't be his father, he just couldn't. The Force swirled around him, and for the first time since he had become open to his presence, he tried to quell what it was telling him.

"Do not try to deny the truth, my son," Vader urged, stepping towards Luke. Luke slid across the wall, distancing himself from the man claiming to be his father.

"You're lying," Luke hissed, his eyes downcast on the floor. The man that he had idolized and hero-worshiped his whole childhood, his whole life, turned out to be his worst enemy. He stood against everything that Luke believed.

"I am not as malevolent as you make me out to be," Vader started, but Luke's anger burst out before he could stopper it.

"Stay out of my mind you monster!" Luke screamed. Monster. That hit Vader too close to home for his pleasure. His entire life had been defeating the monsters of the universe, and one of them had been the Jedi themselves. To be called a monster, and to be called a monster by his son, no less, made something inside of Vader crack.

"I am not a monster! You know not of which you speak, young one!" Vader denied, deeply offended. Luke was surprised at what he had sparked in Vader. There was something there, something that seemed to scream out at him: a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, like his own, screaming out in need. If his anger and hatred for Vader had not covered it, he would have felt his own ache to answer that plea, the desperate need for compassion.

"My father wouldn't be like you," Luke said, knowing he couldn't quite grasp the words he needed to express his shock and horror.

"But I _am_ your father. And I want you to join me. You will have plenty of time to think it over. Goodnight…_**son**_." In a gracefully fluid motion, he exited the room, the blaster shielded doors shutting and locking swiftly behind him.

Luke lied down on the bed in his cell. 'Ben,' Luke thought to himself, 'why didn't you tell me?'

* * *

Nekem looked around at the small room that his superiors had assigned him because of his predicament. Some of his things had been brought into the new room. He smiled hollowly as he picked up his pillow and ripped the seams. The padding inside the pillow had made it impossible for the technicians who had scanned his things to pick up on the blaster he always kept hidden there.

How ironic that he had kept it there in case of an Imperial raid, yet now he found himself a prisoner of the alliance. Had all his years of service meant nothing? If they didn't understand what he was trying to do, if all his years of service were overlooked so easily then it meant that he was no longer welcomed here. It was obvious that he could no longer stay with the alliance, and he would die before he spent the rest of his life in a cell.

He tried opening the door and found it locked, and to his bitter dismay, that someone had had the nerve to command a guard to watch over him.

"Don't try anything funny!" He heard the guard yell. During his "hearing" he had gotten the impression that he was under just house arrest; now he knew how little trust they had in him. Oh well. Might as well get it over and done with. Nekem knocked on the door and hollered out to the guards.

"I need to use the 'fresher!" Nekem bellowed.

"You have one in your quarters," came the muffled reply.

"This one's broken." After a few seconds hesitation, the guard opened the door, his blaster drawn. But Nekem had been trained in battle since eight years before the Rebellion had even begun, and his reflexes almost rivaled the famous quickness of a dug. He pulled the trigger before the other man had any chance to defend himself, not even bothering to put it on stun. The guard dropped dead at his feet.

"Sweet dreams." Nekem muttered before heading towards his old quarters to pick up a few extra things.

* * *

Leia looked at her chrono and sighed. She felt something had gone terribly wrong. Yet she didn't know what.

"Princess Leia! Princess Leia!" C-3PO hollered as he entered Leia's chambers.

"What is it Threepio?" Leia asked. It wasn't unusual for C-3PO to be a pessimist and think that everything was something horrible, but she had a feeling the droid was about to reveal some particularly bad news.

"General Nekem has stolen a small transport and seems to have stolen quite a bit of Rebel Alliance documentary. It's projected he is going to the Empire and use it to barter with."

"What?" Leia asked, jumping to her feet. She keyed in Han's frequency on her comlink.

"Han!" she called, using his private channel.

"What is it?" Han asked disgruntled, sounding as though he had been in the middle of fixing something.

"Nekem's gone," Leia informed him.

"Yes, Chewie and I are already preparing the Millennium Falcon to go after him."

"What?" Leia asked.

"Someone has to stop him from giving the information to the Imps. General Yashitar asked us if we would go after him. Wedge offered to go with the Rogues, but they wanted someone more discreet. We were more than willing to take the job to do what we can for the kid. Hey, we could always use an extra hand..." Han offered hopefully.

"I'll inform Yashitar that I'm going as well."

"Wonderful," Han said, Leia could almost feel his smile beneath his words.

"Leia out."

* * *

Vader knew his luck had run out when Admiral Zephery came before him with a command from the Emperor. The fact that the message had said command rather than message meant that the Emperor had found out what exactly had happened with Luke, and that he was considerably incensed if not enraged with his apprentice for not reporting the developments immediately.

It surprised the dark lord to find that his master waited expectantly on the other side of the com. Normally when his master found fault with him, he made Vader sweat it out for a long period of time.

"What is your bidding my master?" Vader asked.

"The boy who destroyed the Death Star...is it true that he is the son of Skywalker?" The Emperor asked harshly.

"Yes, my master."

"And you have him with you?"

"Yes, my master."

"I see." The Emperor allowed a long enough pause to try to get a handle on Darth Vader's thoughts. Vader kept them as neutral as possible. "He is powerful, is he not?"

"Exceptionally."

"Bring him before me." The Emperor did not wait for any further discussion as he ended the transmission. Vader stood up and went to check on Luke. He did not like this one bit. He did not know if the Emperor suspected his true intentions for the boy or not, but he would not let that ugly, decrepit, serpent toy with his son. The Emperor had promised to aid him in saving the life of his wife and unborn child. While Palpatine may have forgotten that was the reason Vader had turned to the darkside, Vader certainly hadn't. To have his son in front of him only to have Palpatine already commanding him to hand over his son was not something Vader would stand for. He needed to convince Luke to join him, and he needed to convince him quickly.

**Next part...Escape Routes**


	6. Chapter 6: Escape Routes

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 6: Escape Routes**

"Where are we?" Leia asked tiredly, looking through the cockpit window of the Millennium Falcon as star lines whizzed past them.

"Rempinto System, nicknamed 'The Smuggler's Home.'" Han informed her pleasantly.

"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Leia bit out.

"It's not as bad as it seems your worship. It's actually a pretty decent place. This is where the smugglers of the galaxy house up their mistresses, their wives, their kids...it ain't half bad. I think you'll fit in perfect around here," Chewie growled something that Leia was sure was some sort of snort.

* * *

Vader stopped outside his son's door, feeling Luke's emotions ooze around him through the Force. It was clear that the boy had not come to terms with the thought that Vader was his father. The revulsion he felt, and the rejection he projected made Vader's blood boil. Yet the image of Vader losing his control and choking Padme made Vader step back from the room. He made an abrupt turn and headed to the nearest lounge. There he took out his anger by flying things across the room: data cards, blasters...frightened Admirals, whatever happened to be lying around.

After the lounge had been cleared in complete and utter terror, Vader calmed down, realizing that that had not been a smart move. It had been incredibly foolish actually. He just hoped that this would not get back to the Emperor. With a sigh, he wished that he could just escape from the Emperor's slimy hands. A sudden idea struck the Dark Lord. With determined steps, he backtracked his route to his son's room.

Images swirled around in Luke's mind as he tried desperately to remember what had happened to him. All that he seemed to come up with was a blurry image of some people taking him out of his X-wing and treating a head wound that he had gotten.

He put his hand up to his head and rubbed at a small spot that felt as though a bacta-patch had been placed there. Massaging his head, he concentrated on making-out the faces of the people who had kidnapped him. With sudden clarity, a face popped out at him. In his mind's image he saw a picture of a woman with red hair and incredibly green eyes. She was saying something, but what had she said? He took a deep, calming breath, letting the Force flow through him. With clarity he remembered her discussion with two males.

"What did you say his name was?" the woman hissed.

"Luke Skywalker. Geeze woman, are you deaf? I still don't think Aaron should have hired you. We don't know anything about you little girl," one of the men had said harshly.

"Why so concerned?" the other man asked, and Luke realized that it was a Toydarian.

"I know his father," she said darkly. Luke shook his head, but that was all he could remember. He sighed in aggravation. Luke looked at the ceiling in dismay. How had he gotten into this predicament? If Vader was telling the truth...

Luke shook his head. He wouldn't think of that. As far as he was concerned, his father had died years ago. In frustration, Luke banged his fist against the wall and to his utter surprise, felt it crush beneath his hand. His hand didn't even hurt after breaking a wall that seemed incredibly solid. Luke decided he would take the time to worry over the illogical solution in front of him later, but right now Luke had better things to think about: namely escape.

The hole that he had created showed him that the wall was hollow on the inside, probably the reason that he could break it so easily. Getting a firm grip on the edges around the hole, Luke ripped with all his strength, and the walling came out with a great deal of ease. He created a large enough entrance for him to slide through, and with no other notions than subtle and quiet guidance from the Force, Luke started his escape.

Vader had a hard time believing his eyes as he opened the door to his son's room. There was a hole in the wall. A giant hole. The room had been turned into a makeshift prison cell out of a normal room so that Vader had better access to him. He couldn't imagine someone being so incompetent that they would not even check the room and make it prisoner proof. Someone would pay. Vader concentrated on trying to locate his son's Force presence. He wasn't far, but his son's thoughts interested Vader.

Vader's concentration broke. Allowing his son to escape through the inner walls of his practically impenetrable war ship would undoubtedly cause a great uproar with everyone, but for the present, he needed Luke out of the way so that the Emperor could not get his wrinkly hands on him.

Luckily for him he had gotten a glimpse into Luke's jumbled thoughts. They had shown him that of the smugglers had actually been one of the Emperor's hands who had found out about his son. What he didn't like, was the fact that she had immediately made the connection between him and his son. He didn't like that part of it at all. Mara Jade would have to be dealt with before she became a greater nuisance.

* * *

Leia looked around her as she came to the conclusion that there were worse places that she could be, but at the moment, her mind was blank of producing any. The place was clean enough, if you only counted clean as being free from clutter.

The people who walked around did not look clean at all. Half of them looked either drunk or in some sort of a spice haze, and the other half looked like they were ready to shoot anyone who asked them anything. Which was probably the truth.

"Don't make eye-contact with anyone," Han commented quietly at her side. They walked through the crowds, Han on her left, Chewie on her right, and C-3PO trailing behind them. They hadn't meant to bring him, but Chewie had apparently forgotten that he had been having a conversation with Threepio in his native language when they had been assigned to leave and turned him off and left him aboard in the store room. They decided that it couldn't hurt to have a protocol droid with them, for Leia's sake. Han had connections down here with familiar people, and familiar languages, but he would not be able to translate to Leia everything being said.

"Look alert," Leia heard Han mutter to Chewie. He growled a response that Leia figured was some sort of indignation at being told the obvious.

"Remind me again," Threepio asked from the tail end of the group, "are we trying to find General Nekem or Master Luke?"

"Hopefully both. We believe that Nekem knows where Luke is. We find him, we find Luke." Han explained.

"Oh I do hope so." Threepio muttered. "And R2 as well." Leia hid a smirk at that one. The relationship between the two droids was endearing at best and comical at worst. She wondered how those two had gotten together.

Their group arrived at a small cubicle in a cantina where Han knew the bartender. C-3PO chatted away without consolation, until a Toydarian leaned over his side of the booth and hissed at them.

"Be quiet. I'm trying to talk here, and I can't hear with that junk piece squabbling away. He'd be better scrap heap, I think." The Toydarian chuckled at his own joke. Threepio huffed. The Toydarian went back off into his own conversation, chatting away irritably in Huttesse.

"Why of all the rude and harsh things to-" Threepio's comment trailed off. His head cocked to the side in a poor imitation of a human listening intently.

"Mistress Leia, Master Solo!" Threepio said in a droid's whisper.

"What is it?" Leia asked exasperated.

"I do believe our irritated neighbor in the box next to us may know where Master Luke is," Threepio said with pride.

"How do you know?" Han asked suspiciously, his head turning to the side, seeing if he could pick up any of the conversation. He'd tuned them out when they had started to speak Huttesse. Han only understood it when he was concentrating.

"Because he just said that he 'found out that there was a bigger bounty on that Skywalker's head than what the conniving Rebel had paid for him.'" Han and Chewie looked at each other. Han slid out of the booth and into the one next to him, pulling his blaster out of its pouch and pointing it at the Toydarian.

Han eyed up the Toydarian. He knew the kind of people that his smuggler acquaintance Aaron usually hired. And it wasn't like Aaron had given him more than the basic information. The Toydarian looked like the type who would work in Aaron's crew.

"What do you know about Luke Skywalker?" Han demanded. Leia rolled her eyes. Nothing like the direct approach she supposed. The Toydarian and his companion gulped nervously before starting to spill what they knew.

* * *

Luke couldn't believe his luck as he found his way to the main hanger. The hollow path in the wall had led to a ventilation shaft that he crawled through to where he saw his X-wing.

Something about this seemed incredibly easy to him, and it worried him to no ends. No alarms had been set off, and that made him even more suspicious. He had a feeling that they were letting him escape, but where to? He couldn't go back to the Rebellion now. Even if what Vader said wasn't true, there was some sort of trick behind all of this; he knew that much from his experience with escaping the Death Star.

Waiting for over an hour Luke figured out the pattern to guards moving in and around his X-wing. He noticed that more and more they were becoming lax with their vigilance. Just like the storm-trooper that Obi-Wan had manipulated with the Force they were weak minded and not too observant at their posts. Though the lax guard made Luke think Vader wanted him to escape.

'Very good, son,' Vader's voice entered Luke's mind, making the teenager jump.

'Vader?' Luke asked in wonder.

'The Emperor wants you, but he will not have you. I will not let him touch my son. Think over our discussion. I will never be far from knowing where you are anymore. When you want to, you'll know how to contact me. I suggest you go now while the guards are not looking.' Luke scowled.

'I don't want your advice! And I will _not_ want to contact you.' Luke spat through his mind.

'Perhaps not want, but you will _need_ to.' Vader cut off their connection, leaving Luke confused. He couldn't go back to the Rebellion. Yet what could he do? Luke sighed. First things first, he would get out of this hell hole. He slid open a small vent and dropped to the ground, thudding slightly. It was only a matter of minutes before he had passed the guards, entered his X-wing, and ignited the engines. Artoo beeped a surprised sound upon seeing his master, but Luke didn't care. He waited in his X-wing, keying up his nav computer. He waited until the star destroyer had positioned in such a way that he could make the jump into hyperspace almost as soon as he had exited the hangar. As soon as the nav computer told him he would be clear to jump to the nearest system, he blasted past the stunned guards and into light-space as quickly as possible.

**Next part...Using the Force**


	7. Chapter 7: Using the Force

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 7: Using the Force**

Artoo twittered a question, and Luke glanced down at the translation in the screen in front of him.

"I don't know where we're going," Luke admitted. He felt like banging his head against the control panel in frustration. He had no idea where he should go. What if Vader was really telling the truth? Would anyone believe that he hadn't known before that Vader was his father? Either way it didn't matter. He doubted that he should go to the Rebellion for help. If someone had betrayed him to the Empire, they would do it again, and they would probably wreck his name, this time by labeling him as Vader's son.

His _father_. Luke shook his head in disgust. How could he be related to a man that stormed around the galaxy killing people for an inept cause? Yet if he was really telling the truth, then Vader wished to rebel against the Emperor for being mislead. Luke blew out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and gave his command to Artoo.

"Bring up a list of all the nearby systems." Luke's voice sounded dull and lifeless to his own ears. Artoo had seemed to notice it, and with a smile, Luke realized that this little droid had an incredible will of its own. He twittered encouragingly to Luke. Who knew droids could be so good at lifting his spirits?

"Duldanee, Sempric, Rempinto, and Cep," Luke read the list allowed, only recognizing two, Duldanee and Rempinto. Duldanee was the obvious choice to go to out of the two. It was a peaceful place where the alien government welcomed and helped strangers. The Duldanees felt that their mission in life was to do good for others. Rempinto was out of the question. It was known as "The Smuggler's Home," and reminded Luke too much of Mos Eisley.

"Artoo, we'll head for-" Luke's voice trailed off as a buzzing noise filtered its way into his mind. *Rempinto.* It was as though a thousand voices all rolled into one voice telling him to do something he wouldn't normally do.

*Go to Rempinto.* Luke shook his head.

"Dul-" The voices became more urgent, more desperate until Luke's head buzzed. *Go to Rempinto!*

"Rempinto." Luke rasped out. The voices died down to a hushed whisper. *May the Force be with you.* Putting a hand to his head, Luke had a slight feeling that that order had come from the Force. Not from the familiar voice of Ben Kenobi but seemingly something inside him.

"I think I'm going insane," Luke half laughed to himself before giving Artoo the double thumbs up to make the jump to hyper-space.

"I hope I'm right about this. Actually, I hope the Force is right about this," Luke muttered to himself as the star-lines faded around him. New whisperings came to him, telling him to reach out with the Force. Relaxing himself, he let his mind slip into a world of whispering voices. Most of them sounded muddled and unclear. He stretched out farther, and he could feel the whisperings becoming angrier, hateful. He shied away from that grouping when a small group within cried out to him. *Help us!* For the briefest of moments he hesitated before stretching out, reaching out his light to them.

'How?' He called to them. *Listen to the dark ones. Question them.* Luke was slightly miffed by the order, but he obeyed. The dark ones spoke. He listened. He responded. Luke felt the ones that asked to be saved growing stronger until he could hear one voice, one voice crying out in help.

* * *

Vader sat in his medical pod, his suit and respirator close by for when his exercise ended. His scars and wounds bore a constant reminder of the pain and agony that the Jedi had caused him. He tensed his muscles in remembrance of what they had done and what they would have done if he hadn't helped destroy their misguided order. Using that anger and hate, he would be able to breathe with the aid of the dark side.

One day, he would no longer need that damned suit. If he had known about Luke's existence earlier, he would already be out of that suit!

He pictured Kenobi in his mind, his anger concentrated on the man. 'You did this to me!' Vader's mind cried out.

'Why?' Vader stiffened. It was Luke's voice, his son's voice in his mind. 'Why do you hate? If it makes you feel hurt, seek comfort. Do not be the one who hurts others.' Luke's voice faded from Vader's mind, and the dark lord gasped for breath. A light feeling surrounded the dark lord, and warmth spread through his whole body. Vader recognized it as the light side. He tried to grasp his anger, but it did not come back to him in its full strength. It had made some of the light go away, but it took the warmth with it.

It made Vader feel cold, so terribly cold. He really didn't like being cold; the cold made him feel dead, lifeless.

Vader reached up and put the temporary breathing mask over his mouth. He wanted to feel warm again. A forbidden idea struck the sith lord's mind. If he was to use the light side, he could help to heal himself. That was treasonous thinking, and he was sure that the thought stemmed from his own mind. The thought had come from Luke. Vader knew that using the light side was forbidden. Yet another thought trickled into his mind; if the dark side had turned him already, he couldn't go back. Using the lightside wouldn't matter.

But would it make him weaker in the dark side? And was it worth it to have a fully healed body? Vader sighed in frustration. This was useless thinking. He reached out with the Force to get a feel for Luke's presence. It calmed and reassured him. With a sudden jolt of surprise, he realized he had done exactly what his son had asked him to do. He had reached out for the comforting presence of his son when he had felt hurt. Vader had a feeling that this was not good.

Or was it?

* * *

Nekem handed the data card to the imperial. He wasn't sure that he fully trusted them, but it had gotten him more money.

"The Emperor will be pleased with this information. We just received a transmission from him that he wishes for Skywalker's death." Nekem raised an eyebrow at this. He found it strange that the Empire wanted Skywalker alive just a few days ago but now they wanted him dead. Had it been a ruse to begin with?

"I was under the impression that Skywalker was already within the Empire's clutches."

"He was. He escaped." The Imperials tone of voice left no room for discussion. Nekem had a feeling that he was helping the Emperor a lot more than he realized by giving them this information. He could only hope the money he got from selling the Alliance's secrets would keep him hidden.

* * *

Leia sat on her bed in one of the Millennium Falcon's guest quarters. The Toydarian that they had talked to had informed them that Luke had been taken directly to Nekem, but they had found out that he had later been taken to Darth Vader's personal flag-ship.

Leia shuddered at the thought of what Vader might be doing to her friend. C-3PO entered her room with a tray of something to drink. For once, he wasn't talking. Leia got the impression that he was actually concerned about Luke, and therefore was actually being quiet out of that concern. A droid that seemed to hold human-like-emotions was rare, and Leia smiled despite of how simply awful she felt. She took a sip from the drink and thought about how bad the situation was.

Things would work out. They just had to.

**Next Part...Anakin Skywalker**


	8. Chapter 8: Anakin Skywalker

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 8: Anakin Skywalker**

Darth Vader looked at the medical pod in front of him. He frowned in anger and frustration. For the past two days he had taken the time to strengthen his healing skills, and they had gotten steadily worse instead of better. He had never had any problem with learning new things when he had been younger.

When he had used the light side of the Force.

Vader felt so frustrated that if he was not wearing a helmet then he would have banged his head against the wall. Seeing as how that was not an option, Vader decided to think over all the possible and plausible paths he could choose.

He could concentrate his Force use so that the light side healed him, but there were definite risks and complications. If he let go of his hate and anger, he could go into a healing trance much quicker. At one time he knew he could have cured himself of his injuries in a matter of days, but that was before the duel with Kenobi. He was not a fool. Vader knew that though the dark side was stronger, but his level in it, he could not heal himself. Healing was more to the light side, and would be easier.

However, if he strengthened himself in the dark side enough, he could heal himself, and initially come that much closer to mastering it.

On the other hand, if he healed quickly, it would be easier to control the Force. Vader sighed. For once in his life, Vader was at a loss as to what to do.

* * *

Luke gazed over the capital of Rempinto from the hotel room that he had rented out. It didn't look like a hovel for smugglers, but Luke supposed that was why people left the system alone. Coming in, no one had stopped him or asked him for an ID. As long as he had enough money to pay, they were happy. Luckily for him he had some credits in an IBA - Imperial Bank Account - left over from Tatooine's past three harvests. He had been surprised to find out how much money his uncle had really had. He wondered now why he had really not wanted Luke to go to the Imperial Academy. Had they known all along that Vader was his father?

Luke shook his head. He just couldn't stop thinking about Vader. He was starting to call him father in his mind now. Perhaps he really was.

"No use to dwell on that." Luke mumbled to himself. He lied down on his bed, hoping the Force would guide him to his next move.

* * *

Captain Muev waited patiently but nervously in front of the dark lord's chambers. He had no idea how he was going to get Vader's attention seeing as how no one had told him the proper code to

access Vader's room. Muev had heard stories that his commanding officer could sense when someone was nearby, but that was completely ridiculous.

"What do you need Captain Muev?" Vader's voice boomed over the intercom channel built into the key-pad. Muev straightened to attention, startled.

"The Emperor wishes that you make contact with him." Muev relayed the message.

"I will take this from my private link. Dismissed." Vader's deep voice commanded.

"Yes sir." Muev left in a rush.

Vader waited for the Emperor to appear in his line of vision. He knew that his master waited in the shadows, annoyed at his servant.

"Where is Skywalker?" The Emperor demanded.

"He escaped my master." Vader explained.

"Because you let him." The Emperor growled. Darth Vader did not flinch. His master continued. "I have sent someone after him. Do not attempt to rescue him Vader. He had his chance, and he will be killed because of your carelessness." The Emperor ended their transmission.

Vader felt even more lost now. He didn't want Luke to be killed. He wanted his son at his side, to rule. They would be the best thing that ever happened to the galaxy.

"Only when you let go of your anger can you save him." Vader whirled around to come face to face with the blue-glow image of his old master.

"Kenobi." Vader growled. "It figures that you would haunt me even after your death."

"I have never haunted you, and you know it. You're angry at yourself. All this time you have only thought that you were angry at me because you could never bring yourself to admit that you hate yourself for becoming a monster." Vader had felt his anger and hatred boil up when Kenobi had appeared, but as soon as Kenobi had called him a monster, it had vanished. His son hated him. His own son. Kenobi was wrong though. He hated Kenobi; he hated Kenobi because he was right. It hurt even worse than the pain when Kenobi had pushed him into the lava pit. Vader finally admitted to himself that he was a monster. It hurt like hell.

"Luke can help you." Kenobi offered. Vader laughed, a short, harsh sounding laugh.

"He hates me." Vader spat bitterly.

"Give him a reason to believe that you can be saved, and he will help you. I don't think that he even knows it, but he loves you despite who you are because he knows who you were. If you can't believe that he would accept you right now, then earn it. You say that you want him by your side to rule the galaxy. Do you think that he really wants that? Do you think he has dreamed like you to be the terror that everyone fears? No. If you want him to like you for who you are, become what he really needs, what he really wants, and always has: a father." Kenobi's spirit vanished back into the depths of the Force.

"You were always a good friend, weren't you...master." A bitter smile twisted Vader's lips for the last time as he let go of his hate and anger.

Anakin Skywalker sighed. He had a lot of work to do if he was going to get his son to ever accept him.

* * *

Luke sat up, his mind in a haze because of the dream he'd just had. Vader had turned to the light side of the Force just because he wanted to get closer to him. Luke shook his head. That was utterly absurd. And yet...

Luke thought back to when Vader had proclaimed to him that he was in fact his not-so-dead father. Vader had actually hugged him when he had said that. He reflected that something had definitely not been right with the picture at the time. Vader did not go around hugging pilots who destroyed Imperial property, not to mention very expensive and deadly Imperial property to boot.

Perhaps this was guidance from the Force. *It is! It is!*

Luke heard the voices scream at him again.

"Is he really on the light side?" Luke asked in disbelief.

*Yes! He wants to be the father you've always wanted.*

"What can I do to help him?" Luke asked eagerly. *You must stay alive.* Luke felt more than he heard the voices disappear. What had they meant by stay alive? Feeling a sudden pressure from the Force, he ducked. A knife whizzed above him right where his head had been. He spun around to see a strange looking alien staring at him, another knife clutched in its hand, ready to throw it at Luke.

Staying alive would be a really good thing right about now.

**Next part...Friends and Allies**


	9. Chapter 9: Friends and Allies

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 9: Friends and Allies**

Luke's hand lunged for the light-saber dangling at his belt. He had nearly forgotten that he had it. He ignited the blue blade as a knife came flying towards him. Ben had allowed him to practice with a droid that shot out lasers, but he had never had to use his light-saber against a live opponent. Luke cleared his mind as he felt the Force move through him. The blade hit the knife, forcing it to change direction and split in two.

His assassin, an alien with grayish skin, looked at him in surprise. Taking out another knife, it prepared to take aim against Luke, but the Force was with him. He somersaulted over the alien, and kicked it in the head. The alien let out a grunt that sounded distinctly male, and dropped to the ground unconscious. Luke grabbed the little possessions that he had in the room, and flew down the stairs. He didn't need to draw any attention to himself with answering questions about why there was an immobile alien lying on the floor, and neither did he want to find out if his attacker had any friends around.

He paid the cashier for his room and left, doing his best not to look suspicious. Luke let out a sigh, wishing he knew where to go when he turned a corner and bumped into someone.

"Sorry." He mumbled, and then gasped when he saw who it was.

"Chewie!" Chewie growled something that he didn't understand and embraced Luke in a fury hug. Luke laughed.

"I'm glad to see you too!" Luke said, a smile gracing his lips, something he had not done since he'd been captured. Chewie grasped onto Luke's arm as though he was afraid that Luke would disappear on him. Luke mused that he wished that he could do just that. He didn't feel like explaining what had happened to him to his friends yet. Looking down at the light-saber hanging on his belt, he wondered why Vader hadn't taken it from him. On reflection, he felt utterly foolish. He could have just used the light-saber to escape from the room on Vader's ship. Luke shook his head and allowed Chewie to lead them through the crowds. It took them about twenty minutes until Chewie and Luke finally arrived to the docking bay where he saw the Millennium Falcon sitting. Chewie opened the hatch and roared something that sounded excited.

"What are you doing back already? I thought-" Han had begun talking from another room on the Falcon, but when he came out, he stopped in mid-step and mid-sentence upon seeing Luke.

"Luke!" He called in surprise. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but how did you get here?" Han wondered. Luke sighed.

"I was let go. If I'm not mistaken, they know where I am. I can't go back to the Rebellion; I'll just be putting everyone in danger. Can you help me find somewhere to go?" Luke asked. Han gave him a searching look.

"Yeah. But first things first, you better see Leia. She's been worried about you. Though I don't know why a princess would bother with a kid like you." Luke gave him a half-smile, and Han

could tell that there was something different about his friend. "She was in the back quarters last time I checked." Luke nodded to his friend. He looked at him, an awkward silence hanging over them as Luke left the room. It hadn't been the greeting he had expected, but he mused that he should have. What would they think of him just showing up at their door? It was a comfort that Chewie had not had any misgivings, but sometimes Chewie let his happiness get himself carried away. As Luke exited, Chewie growled a question.

"He is changed." Han agreed. Chewie growled his hate for the Empire. "What did they do to you kid?" Han whispered to himself.

Leia thought she was dreaming when Luke walked into her quarters.

"Luke!" She leapt from her position on the bed and hugged her friend in surprise. Her warm welcome made Luke smile.

"Master Luke, it is a pleasure to see you again." C-3PO sputtered as he entered the room.

"Thanks Threepio. Thanks Leia." Luke said, forcing a smile.

"How did you get away?" Leia asked, her happiness seeping away in a flash. Luke sighed, trying to collect his thoughts.

"Where should I start?" He asked hesitantly. Luke didn't bother to wait for a response. "First and foremost, I better tell you that the Empire is monitoring me. They know where I am." Luke explained. Leia gave him a questioning look.

"What are you talking about? Why are you here if they know where you are?" Leia's eyes became suspicious, and Luke didn't like her looking at him like that.

"I escaped, but they let me do it. Probably like they did with the Death Star."

"Luke, what happened?" Leia asked softly. Luke looked over at Leia, a hesitant and almost horrified expression on his face. Leia immediately regretted asking. "You don't have to tell me if you feel that you're not-" Leia started. Luke put up his hand.

"I'll never be ready, but you deserve to know." Leia gave him a confused look. She grasped his hand, but he gently brushed it away. He walked a little ways away from her. Leia would have felt better if Luke had physically slapped her hand away. Luke winced as he realized his icy attitude, and gave her a small smile.

"C-3PO." Luke said softly.

"Yes master Luke." The droid hurried forward, acting as if he wanted to ease Luke's pain by being the best droid possible.

"Please ask Chewie and Han to come in here. I only wish to say this once." Luke replied. C-3PO bustled away, not even one complaint about being used as a messenger droid.

* * *

Vader stormed through the bridge, frustration taking its toll on him. It wasn't anger, Vader firmly reminded himself, just a human emotion that everyone had to feel at one time. Plus it made an excellent substitution to what his men thought of as anger.

"Where are those new proto-types?" Vader demanded. If his scheme was to work, he needed those idiotic mechanics to hurry up and finish construction.

"In the storage hanger in the 37th sector milord." One of his trembling captains had the sense to speak. Vader caught himself from saying "Thank you," for he knew that would just confuse his

crew. The only time he said thank you was when he killed someone or when someone had done something incredibly helpful. He knew that his crew would not consider giving directions worthy of such a thing.

Instead, he turned on his heal and stormed out off of the bridge and in a direct path to the 37th hanger. Before he left, however, the same captain from before seemed to remember something, rushing forward as he spoke up.

"Milord, a transmission from Rempinto came in a few minutes ago." The captain walked quickly to hand the encrypted data card for Vader to see.

"I will deal with this personally." Vader said, as he recognized the encryption style. It was from one of the Nogrhi that he had personally used for many assassins. Vader had a very strange feeling about the information that the message would contain, but he didn't have time to worry about that. He had to get down to the hanger quickly. However, a twinge from the Force made him change his course for his chambers to read it immediately.

Downloading the proper de-coder, Vader looked on with a deep sense of curiosity as he read down the letter.

'Honorable Lord Vader, your humblest apologies for such a display of ignorance, but I knew I must address you before I continue the plans given to me by the Emperor.' Vader allowed himself a small smirk at the knowledge that the Noghri would come to Vader for questions instead of doing what the Emperor commanded. He continued to read the letter.

'The Emperor demanded that I assassin a young human male by the name of Luke Skywalker.' Vader felt his blood boil, but cooled it at the thought of the possible consequences anger would bring to him. 'I am ashamed to say that the attempt failed, but the boy left his scent behind.' If anyone else had read the letter, they would not have understood that Luke would have Vader's scent, telling the Nohgri Luke was his son. The Noghri was both smart and loyal. 'Should I still do as the Emperor commands of me?' Vader read over the letter, an idea already forming in his mind. This would work to his advantage.

He opened his com-link for his loyal Noghri's com-channel. Vader felt a twinge of regret for having deceived the Noghri for so long. He would ask for their forgiveness as soon as the proper time came for it.

"Milord?" The alien on the other line answered.

"I'm giving you new commands on what to do about Skywalker."

"As you wish."

* * *

Han and Chewie walked into Leia's chambers, worried looks on their faces.

"Look kid, Threepio told us why you want us in here, to tell us what they did to you. You don't need to relive your torture for our benefit." Han said being blunt and yet at the same time concerned. Luke gave a hollow laugh.

"I have to tell you. I need to." Luke tried to explain how he was feeling. He had to tell them that he was Darth Vader's son. He would feel like he was lying to them if he kept that from them. They deserved to know the truth, even if the truth was the last thing that Luke wanted to admit was real.

"Well, here goes." Luke took a deep breath and began his explanation.

**Next part...HoloNet Lies**


	10. Chapter 10: HoloNet Lies

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 10: HoloNet Lies**

Luke began by telling Leia, Han, and Chewie how he was captured, that is, what he could remember of it. He told them how Vader had come into his room and had set up a proposal for him: to end the brutalities that the Empire is so infamous for. Han snorted in disbelief.

"That's what I thought too." Luke said during to Han's interruption. "He told me that he wanted me to help. I thought at first that it was because I was Force sensitive..." Luke took in a deep breath.

"That's why he wanted you, right?" Han asked. Luke shook his head.

"He said..." Luke looked down at his hands, and closed his eyes, trying his best to get the words out. "He said, that he's...that he's my...father." Luke let out a deep breath. Leia and Han looked at him in surprise.

"That's not funny Luke." Han said, his face void of emotion.

"I'm not joking." Luke whispered.

"He really said that?" Leia asked sounding horrified.

"Yes." Luke replied in a monotone voice.

"He's just trying to rattle you. Your father died years ago, right? I'm sure Vader is doing his best to toy with you." Leia huffed, sounding as though she was trying to convince all three of them.

"You needed to know, either way." Luke explained.

"Kid," Han gave Luke a quirky smile, "you're too much of a wimp to be related to Vader." He patted Luke on the shoulder. Chewie growled a response.

"What did he say?" Luke wondered.

"He's just saying that you're a nerf-herder for even thinking that Vader is your father. Kid, like I said, don't worry. Listen to the princess. She might be right for once." Han shot her a smirk, and Leia sat up straight in defiance.

"This coming from one of the elite smuggler's of the galaxy? I am so honored you have such faith in my ability to reason through a situation." Leia bit out. Luke smiled; things hadn't changed at all. A weight seemed to lift of his shoulder, even if it was a light one. He still knew that Vader was his father, but he didn't want to discuss it further with his friends since they seemed so keen on denying it.

"Thanks guys." Luke smiled. Han waved it off as if he had said that the Millennium Falcon needed a paint job. Chewie rumbled something fondly, and rustled Luke's head.

"Master Luke, really, you shouldn't make up such absurd stories. My programming specifically tells me that it upsets others, and that is not something that you should do." Luke looked at C-3PO, suddenly remembering that he had forgotten about R2-D2.

"Oh no! I left Artoo in my X-wing. We should go get him." Luke said, heading for the door. Han shook his head.

"You need to get something to eat, and rest. We're still looking for Nekem, so get your strength back so you can help us. Chewie and me'll go get your X-wing. We'll take goldenrod along to help." Han grinned at Threepio who made an indignant noise at being called a goldenrod. Luke smiled and handed him the docking bay code- card.

"Really Captain Solo. I do not deserve such disrespect. I have done absolutely nothing wrong..." C-3PO's words trailed off as he, Chewie, and Han headed down the corridor. Leia turned to look at Luke.

"You think Vader is telling the truth." Leia stated firmly.

"About being my father...yes. About getting rid of the evils of the Empire...that I don't know." Luke sighed and sat down on the bed. Leia gave him a quick hug.

"Luke, if you are related to Vader...you must have gotten more of your mother's genes." Leia gave him a lop-sided smile, and Luke laughed.

"Thanks." Luke smiled sheepishly back.

"Go get something to eat." Luke nodded and headed for the small kitchenette on the Falcon.

* * *

Vader opened the com-channel to his Noghri assassin. The Noghri, Jallishka, waited patiently to speak.

"How did it go?" Vader wondered.

"Things went smoothly. The people at the hotel do not know what happened, and I have informed the Emperor of my success." The Noghri bowed low.

"Excellent. When you are finished with the rest of the plan, I need your help here aboard the Executer."

"Yes milord." The Noghri bowed again, and Vader signed off.

* * *

Han looked down at the codecard Luke had handed to him. It said that Luke's X-wing was located in the hangar at a place called the Yepelc station. It took Chewie, Han, and C-3PO awhile to push their way through the stream of pedestrians.

"This is it." Han said, as he reached the station. An old man sat behind a corner desk, ignoring the rest of the population around him as he sat engrossed in his HoloNet programs. He snorted at

them when they asked where the docking bay was. Rolling his eyes, he pointed over to where Luke's X-wing sat, Artoo firmly intact. As the three approached, Artoo whistled a happy greeting.

"Artoo Detoo! It's a wonder that these ill-mannered and grotesque humans haven't taken all your parts away from you already. I hope everything is well." Artoo beeped cheerfully.

"He says that Master Luke told him to wait here until he returned."

"Luke wants him to come with us now, X-wing and all. I even got his card here." Han held up the codecard for Artoo to see. He beeped something else.

"Artoo wishes to be taken out of the X-wing." Threepio translated.

"Actually, I don't think Luke would appreciate it if we were to fly his X-wing, so why don't we just give you the co-ordinates to where the Millennium Flacon is stationed? We can just put you in the cargo department there." C-3PO happily rattled off where Artoo could find the Millennium Falcon. Artoo took off to find where the Falcon was parked.

"Well that was a waste." Han muttered to himself as he walked back past the man on the front desk. Chewie growled a question. "Why was it a waste?" Han asked in disbelief. "It was a waste because we could have just keyed in the command for Artoo to come towards us." Han looked around, realizing that Threepio was no longer with them.

"Captain Solo! Captain Solo!" Threepio hollered, staring intently at the HoloNet screen.

"What is it?" Han wondered irritably. He walked over to where the protocol droid stood, following his gaze to the screen and gasped in surprise.

"...this special report was brought to you moments ago. The body of Rebel Commander Luke Skywalker was found in the hotel on the planet Rempinto. Imperial sources say that he was captured for his crimes, escaped, and killed earlier today by an un-known assassin."

They showed a picture of a mangled body, one that could hardly be recognizable as anyone, let alone Luke.

"They must have captured him and killed him aboard the Millennium Falcon!" Threepio muttered sadly.

"Get a grip." Han chided, leading him away quietly so no one could hear. "It's obviously some ploy of the Empire's. They're probably trying to rattle the Rebellion. I'm not sure what's going on, but the more people that think Luke's dead, the better it is for Luke at this time. Come on." Han gave a smirk. "We better go break the news to Luke that he died." Chewie gave a short chuckle, and the three headed off back to the Falcon.

Vader looked down at the plans he was preparing. He would only have one chance at this. He needed Luke's help to bring down the Empire, much more than he thought he had. It was one thing to get rid of the Emperor, but the entire Empire...he would need his son's help. Taking in a deep breath, he hoped that Jallishka would reach Luke in time to deliver his message. They had only a small amount of time to work with.

The threesome arrived at the Falcon just as Artoo arrived.

"What took you so long?" C-3PO asked. Artoo beeped something about terrible air-traffic. "Excuses, excuses." Threepio mumbled.

"What's going on?" Leia asked as she and Luke appeared from the Falcon.

"Luke, we have some terrible news." Han said, his face becoming a mask of seriousness.

"What is it?" Luke asked, worried.

"You died." Han said seriously. Luke raised his eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" Luke questioned. Han laughed at his friend's startled look.

"It was on the HoloNet." Han explained what they had seen. Luke heaved a sigh. He had forgotten to mention the part about the assassin to them earlier.

"An assassin really did try to kill me earlier." He said, his voice grave.

"What? Why didn't you tell us that sooner?" Leia demanded.

"I was too relived to see you guys." He shrugged it off and continued with what he was saying. Perhaps the assassin couldn't afford to say that he miffed the job. "This could be good." Luke said, hope filtering into his voice. Maybe they would really consider him dead.

"Let's hope so junior. We still don't know what the Empire is planning for you. The sooner we find the information on Nekem, the faster we can get off this place." Han explained.

"Then tomorrow we better find out what he did with that information." Leia said determinedly.

**Next part...Jallishka**


	11. Chapter 11: Jallishka

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 11: Jallishka**

Vader sat calmly in his medical pod. He relaxed all of his muscles, and allowed the light side to flow through him. How he had forgotten what soothing touch the Force could have! Vader sat in the pod without his armor and had sustained breathing without it for over an hour. He was pleased greatly. The most time he had ever gone without his breathing mask on had been about two minutes. A great improvement.

Relaxing even more into the abyss of the Force, he drew the lightside to him, manipulating it until he felt like warm rays of the twin suns, Tatto I and Tatto II were kissing his pale skin.

Elation hit him as he felt the healing powers of the Force begin to work its magic on him. Darkness hit him with full force as exhaustion took over his muscles. He began wheezing with the effort.

Gasping, he placed the respirator mask over his mouth, and allowed himself to escape into the Force again. This was going to take a lot more time, but he would do it. He wished, not for the first time, and not for the last, that he had more patience.

* * *

Jallishka had checked all of the docking bays and ports, and had finally recognized the Millennium Falcon. It was a Rebellion ship that one of Skywalker's friends flew. He had actually seen Skywalker going in and out of the ship, so he knew that he had been lucky.

However, this entire mission had made Jallishka very apprehensive. What Vader was planning to do was complete treason against the Empire. The entire Noghri people had pledged their way of life to the Empire because of what Vader had done for them, and he had even asked that they do so. Why would he just turn on the Empire like this? It had made Jallishka doubt in the Empire's abilities.

All he knew was he needed this boy to go to Lord Vader or else the entire galaxy could fall apart.

Jallishka sighed. He slid over to the Falcon's entrance and slipped into the shadows below it. When the Wookie creature walked out, Jallishka slipped in.

* * *

Han and Luke sat at the sabaac table adjacent to Han's cabin. Luke sat tapping his fingers lightly on the table.

"I can't believe we didn't find anything. It's been two days." Luke sighed. He wanted to find the information about where Nekem was. They had followed a lead that Han had gotten from two

Toydarians, but the people that they had mentioned were nowhere to be found. They would have to leave Rempinto, but Luke had insisted that there was something else. It was like something was holding him back, making him want to stay.

"Face it kid: we're gonna have to leave. Tomorrow we're going to check out the information we got from your so called kidnapers." Han reprimanded him firmly.

"I guess you're right." Luke caved in.

"Of course I am." Han gave him a quirky smile. Luke rolled his eyes and laughed.

"What are you two up to?" Leia asked as she came in. She tossed a ration bar to Luke and Han. Luke caught his, but Han's hit him squarely in the face.

"Thanks." Luke said cheerfully as he focused his attention to unwrapping the seal from the ration.

"Thanks." Han grumbled, rubbing his nose.

"You're welcome." Leia smiled. Luke looked up ready to ask Leia something, but stopped at what he saw.

The alien that had attempted to assassin him stood in the door way. Luke stood up, grabbing his light-saber. Leia whirled around, and Han snatched his blaster from his belt. The alien took a good look at Leia, and inhaled sharply. He looked at her a little surprised, but regained his composure quickly.

"May I speak?" The grayish alien hissed.

"Yeah. You can tell us who you are, and what you're doing here." Han demanded. The alien nodded.

"I am Jallishka, clan Mortio. I have a message for Luke, clan Skywalker." Luke looked at him.

"He was the one that tried to kill me." Luke explained to Leia and Han. Han's grip on the blaster tightened.

"May I speak with him alone?" Jallishka asked. Han snorted.

"You tried to kill him. Hell no!" Han said defiantly. "Say what you want to say in front of us."

"I will not kill him. I have done my duty. Everyone thinks you're dead already." Jallishka responded.

"You were the one that announced that I was dead." Luke realized, giving Jallishka a puzzling look.

"No. I told the Emperor that I had succeeded in my mission. I do not serve the Emperor but Lord Vader. He gave me an explicit reprimand for trying to kill you. He praises your abilities at self-defense." Jallishka told him. Luke's body had gone rigid at the mention of Darth Vader.

"What does Vader want with me?" Luke asked hesitantly.

"I wish to speak with you alone." Jallishka repeated.

"I don't think-" Han started but didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. Chewie had snuck up behind Jallishka and grabbed the Noghri around the neck. The alien made sputtering noises as his supply of oxygen dwindled.

"Chewie! Leave him be!" Luke ordered. Chewie growled his confusion and his lack of support of this idea.

"Chewie, just do it." Luke pleaded. Chewie snarled something to Jallishka, and let him go. The alien took in a deep breath, but other than that, showed no other signs of being off-set by Chewie's appearance.

"I will talk with you alone." Luke agreed.

"Are you insane?" Leia asked sharply.

"Maybe. I want to hear what he has to say. I've been able to escape him once. If anything, I'll get a good laugh at hearing the idiotic lies of the Empire." Han, Leia, and Chewie looked at him with utter skepticism.

"Listen, I can take care of myself." They obviously didn't seem to think so, but didn't say anything to dent Luke's pride.

"I would feel a lot better if we knew we won't find you dead when he's done talking with you." Luke slapped his hand to his forehead.

"That's why we put him in restraints!" Luke said.

"Oh...right." Han mumbled, hating to have been told the obvious. "Well, that's okay then." Chewie found a pair of restraints in the cargo hold and placed them on Jallishka. With many protests from Leia, Han, and Chewie, Luke finally convinced them to leave him and Jallishka alone. When they had finally left, Luke turned to look at Jallishka.

"What is the message?" Luke demanded.

"Lord Vader needs your help to destroy the Empire."

Vader smiled as he finally left the pod. He was sure that his crew was beginning to worry, but Vader didn't really care. The few days he had in his pod had healed him enough that he no longer needed the respirator. However, he modified it enough so that it still made the regular breathing noises. He couldn't let anyone know of his accomplishment yet.

**Next part...Betrayal and Trust**


	12. Chapter 12: Betrayal and Trust

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 12: Betrayal and Trust**

Luke looked at Jallishka as though he had not heard him correctly.

"What do you mean that Lord Vader needs my help to destroy the Empire? I still don't understand why he needs my help to overthrow the Empire." Luke said, crossing his arms. Yet still, during the conversation that he had had with the Voices, he had said that he would help his father. Yet he still was not sure what to believe. He wasn't sure that he trusted these wayward Voices.

"Besides, he said that he wanted to overthrow the Emperor and rule the Empire. Why the sudden change? What is he really up to?"

"Lord Vader's plans have changed. As I said, he wishes to destroy the Empire. You have made him realize some things." Jallishka explained, letting his cuffed hands hang loosely at his side.

"I don't understand." Luke sighed.

"I cannot explain it to you. Only your father can." Luke shot his head up when Jallishka said that.

"He told you?" Luke demanded.

"Yes. I would have known anyway. I can smell your blood, and his flows in your veins." Jallishka's confession hit something deep in Luke. He had been denying the fact of his heritage since Vader had told him, yet somehow this proved that he was in fact Vader's son. He didn't know why, but he trusted this alien.

"Yet...I do not think he knows about your sister." Jallishka continued. Luke gave him a confused look.

"What in the galaxy are you talking about?" Luke whined in his confusion.

"Your sister. The woman on this ship is your sister. Did you not know?" Jallishka asked, now confused himself.

"Leia? What do you mean Leia's my sister?"

"I smelt her blood. It is nearly the same as yours." Luke stood up, giving Jallishka a hard look as he wordlessly marched out of the room, locking the door behind him.

"Leia!" Luke called as he entered the small kitchenette.

"What is it?" Leia stood up, her senses alert. "What did he say? What's wrong?" The string of questions sprang from her lips. Luke opened his mouth, and closed it again. He ran his fingers through his sun bleached hair.

"Were you adopted?" Luke asked sheepishly. Leia stared at him blankly. Luke repeated the question.

"Yes." Leia answered hesitantly. "Why do you ask?"

"When is your birthday and how old are you?" Luke continued, ignoring her question.

"My birthday is in twenty standard days, and I will turn nineteen. Luke, what is going on?" Leia wondered. Han and Chewie looked on in the corner, puzzled.

"Master Luke, really. I think that alien has done something to your head. If you would shut down your systems, or go to sleep, I am sure that you would feel much better, and stop asking strange questions." C-3PO sputtered in.

"Jallishka claims that he can smell bloodlines. He says that you're my sister, and for some reason, I believe him." Luke blurted out. There was a minute of awkward pause.

"What?" Han snorted. "First the thing with Vader, and now Leia. What is it with you kid? I think the Empire did a number on your head."

Leia silenced Han with a look. Luke looked at her. "I believe you." All of a sudden, Luke reached out with the Force to touch Leia's presence and felt her return the touch.

* * *

Vader felt a strange ripple in the Force. It almost felt like Luke's Force presence, just not as strong. He reached out through the Force to touch the new ripple. It felt like a replica of Luke's, yet at the same time, had a distinctive familiarity surrounding it that was definitely not Luke's. More like Padmé's, and yet...

Vader stiffened when he recognized the presence. It was that Rebel Princess! The former Sith shook his head. One child was a shock in itself, but two! And a girl that he had tortured no less.

A new path had been thrown before him, but Vader wasn't sure how he should explore it. He decided to handle it later.

Striding across the bridge, he looked out across his men.

He only hoped that things would go as smoothly as he planned, and that none of the idiots that were supposedly loyal to him would be able to figure out what happened. Vader looked around him, glad to get rid of his horrible life.

An incredible blast erupted from the center of the bridge.

Three men died instantly; twenty others were wounded. When the smoke and debris from the explosion cleared, the crew members of the Executor looked over to Darth Vader for instructions, but all they saw were random body parts from his suit, charred and scattered along the remaining stretch of the bridge.

"Captain, what are we to do?" Asked a petrified engineer.

"Contact the Emperor."

* * *

The Emperor was not pleased. His best servant was dead, or at least that was what everyone in the Empire would believe. He couldn't afford to let the embarrassment of Vader's betrayal reach anyone. There were still some in the Empire that only stayed because they feared that Darth Vader would come and kill them with his incredible "sorcerer's powers." Vader was not dead, that much the Emperor could tell, but he would be very shortly.

"Jade." the Emperor bellowed.

"Yes?" Mara Jade emerged from the shadows at the Emperor's side.

"It seems that both Skywalker and Lord Vader are not truly dead. Find out where Skywalker is, and we shall find Lord Vader. Destroy them."

"Of course master."

"Dismissed."

* * *

"What do you mean Darth Vader wants to join the Rebel Alliance?" Han asked Jallishka in disbelief. Jallishka decided that the only way to get Luke to help him was to also let his friends (as well as his sister) know about his master's plan.

"That is what he desires." Jallishka explained again. Luke sighed, and put his hand on his head.

"Listen, I'm exhausted. Let's keep...what was your name again?" Luke asked, his brain in a fuzz.

"Jallishka."

"...Jallishka, guarded and locked. Threepio and Artoo can stay with him. I'm sure that they will be able to warn us if anything goes wrong."

"Master Luke! I must say that being a guard does not fall into my programming. I am only to-"

"Threepio, you have excellent vocal capability. Scream if he tries anything." Luke said irritably.

"How utterly ridiculous." Threepio muttered, but said nothing else on the matter. Artoo beeped and trilled, showing that he was ready to do his duty. Chewie growled something, and Leia and Luke looked to Han for a translation. Threepio would get too technical if they asked him.

"He says that he would be more than willing to stay and watch Jallishka." Han stifled a yawn. Chewie growled an affirmative and grabbed Jallishka's arm as if to say he had a handle on the situation.

"I'm going to bed." Luke yawned as he headed to his personal quarters on the Falcon.

* * *

Anakin Skywalker sat in the escape pod as he floated away with the rest of the trash that the Imperials disposed of. He would have been very displeased to find that his crew was not paying attention to the dispatchel unit at one time, but now he knew that the Force was with him. The stars around him seem to call to him now that he could see with his own eyes again. Everything looked so different, so new. He had permanently dispatched of the suit, and was glad to do so. The only adjustments he had had to make were to fix himself some prosthetic limbs for the body parts that he had lost in his younger years.

He remembered that golden prosthetic hand he had built himself after losing it over twenty years before. He had a knack for fixing material things with his hands, he wished he knew what to do in order to figure out how to fix the incredible mess he had created. Taking a deep breath, Anakin closed his eyes and lost himself in the Force, hoping to contact Luke.

* * *

Luke laid in his bed, tossing and turning. No matter how tired he was, he couldn't shake the feeling that Jallishka was telling the truth, or he was probably another of the endless victims who genuinely believed the Empire's lies. The Noghri might actually believe that Vader was hoping to join the Rebellion, and believed he told the truth. Turning over in his bed again, Luke sighed in frustration. He just couldn't get his thoughts off of his father. Or his sister for that matter. That revelation was almost as shocking as finding out that his father was still alive. His aunt and uncle had never mentioned anything about a sister. Even more thoughts began to race through his mind.

Were his aunt and uncle related to his father or his mother? What was his mother like? Was she still alive? Did she know Vader before he had been evil? So many questions, and he knew the only man in the universe that had them all was the last man that he wanted to see, and at the same time, he was the one man that Luke wished to know more than anyone else.

'Luke?' Luke straightened. It was the same contact that he had had with Vader, only this connection seemed purer somehow. There was no darkness in this contact. Luke wondered if this voice belonged to one of the Voices instead.

'Who are you?' Luke sent, hoping the other person could hear him. Either that, or that the other person would go away. He did not wish for any more surprises.

'Your father.' The voice responded. But Luke was sure now that it was not the same link that he had had with Vader.

'You are not Vader.' Luke stated firmly.

'I was.' The voice responded. 'I am Anakin again. Or as close as being Anakin as I can, now that I have been to the darkside and back.' Luke paused, not sure he wanted to believe this. Was it a trick? He didn't know who or what to trust.

'Look out!' The voice called desperately.

*Yes, yes! Look out!* Luke groaned.

"Not again." Luke muttered, but tensed his muscles and readied himself for action. He wasn't fast enough. As soon as Luke sat up, a slender hand slipped from the shadows, connecting harshly with his skull. Luke slumped back down on the bed.

The attacker bent over the unconscious form of Luke, when a knife came slicing through the air, directly hitting the newest assassin in the back. A small gasped escaped, before the slender form fell on top of Luke's stilled body. Chewie growled something.

"He will be alright. The woman will not be an issue." Jallishka hissed as he looked over Luke. He inhaled a deep breath. "I've met this woman before, but I cannot place her clan. Come. Let us tend to the boy."

**Next part...Meeting Place**


	13. Chapter 13: Meeting Place

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 13: Meeting Places**

Anakin let out a frustrated sigh as he felt his son's Force presence go into the un-mistakable tremor of unconsciousness. The only bright side that Anakin could see to this whole mess was while Luke was in that state, he would be easier to find. He let a shiver run over him. He had forgotten how cold space was. Anakin drew the old Jedi robes he had scavenged from his ship around him tightly.

He'd been surprised that he still had them, though he had been upset to find that he did not have his favorite lightsaber any longer. Then he recalled seeing Luke with it. He had learned in his youth the necessity of always having a lightsaber. Anakin had put plenty of extras in the storage department, so he had a good supply of them. He had two clipped to his utility belt, and upon taking a closer examination of them, he realized that one was his old Jedi Master's. He had forgotten that he had taken it from the heap of clothes Obi-Wan had left behind after his death. It was the only thing that he had of his former master's.

He blew out a deep breath. Obi-Wan had been the closest thing he had ever had to a father. Anakin reflected on the days that he had spent with the Emperor and felt incredibly foolish for not seeing the so called "fatherly affection" as nothing more than lies and deceit. It would have killed him inside at one point if anything had happened to Obi-Wan, but if anything bad had happened to the Emperor...Anakin let out a short laugh. Who would have cared? Not him. Such was the way of the Sith master and apprentice relationship. If a master or apprentice died, it was a loss only in time to find a new apprentice if he died. If the master died, the apprentice reaped the benefits.

The Emperor needed to die. There was no way around it. His abilities in the Force made him dangerous, and the only thing that can be done about a dark Jedi, is death. Though doubts were starting to cloud Vader's mind. He had never dreamed that he would ever venture back from the darkside and perhaps the Emperor could be turned from the darkside. Anakin shook his head. There had never been any light in the Emperor though. He had never been a Jedi, as Anakin had been. Yes, the only resolution was to destroy Palpatine. Anakin groaned. That was the easy part...getting his son, and possibly even his daughter to forgive him would be the hard part.

Luke sat up groggily. Leia was the first to see him start to stir, but Jallishka reached him first.

"Steady," the alien warned, "You do not wish to reopen that wound of yours before the bacta has healed you." Luke put his hand up to feel the familiar form of a bacta patch. Why was his head always getting banged around? At this rate, he would be brain dead before he reached the age of 25.

"What happened?" Luke wondered.

"A personal assassin of the Emperor's. He must know that you are not dead. We left Rempinto last night in case he had any more spies around." Jallishka explained.

"Artoo is doing a thorough scan of the Falcon as we speak for any tracking devices, and, for some reason, he did not wish for me to help." Threepio added.

"We still didn't find out more about Nekem." Luke put in.

"Right now, I'm more worried about the Empire finding you." Han said. Luke held back a smile. He wasn't sure of it yet, but he had a feeling that Han cared about his friends a lot more than he was willing to let on.

"What happened to the assassin?" Luke asked.

"She's dead. I heard someone aboard the ship, and by the time I convinced Chewie to let us come to you, she was already here." Chewie growled something indignantly.

"Yeah," Han muttered, "how did you get those knives? We searched you." Han looked pointedly at Jallishka.

"I am here of my own free will. If necessary, I am sure I could find a way to escape. The only reason I stay is to make sure nothing happens to Skywalker. Lord Vader ordered me to do so, and last night I did. The woman had already knocked you out when I began throwing knives at her. One hit her directly through her temple." Jallishka explained. The group of friends shared a shudder at the thought of such an experienced assassin within their midst. Leia decided to change the subject.

"I should make contact with base." Leia suggested. "Luke better come with me. We need to let the commanders know that he's not really dead." Leia got up and headed to the cockpit. Luke followed.

Luke and Leia stood before the transmitter, feeling slightly awkward and out of place.

"How much do we tell them?" Luke commented nervously.

"We need to tell them that you're not dead." Leia answered wryly. Luke rolled his eyes.

"I meant, that were siblings, or that our father is-"

"Don't say it." Leia cut him off. "This is all too strange. How can he be my father? He killed MY father. My father lived on Alderaan and was a great man. Bail raised me, and taught me so much. Vader tortured me. He made you the most wanted man in the galaxy. It's all just too much." Luke embraced her in a brotherly hug.

"There's something different in him now. I don't know how to explain it. Perhaps it's the Force trying to guide me, but I've been hearing these...voices, or something, and they've been telling me to do things. They tried to warn me about that assassin last night, and they warned me about Jallishka before. They keep telling me that Vader is okay. It's all so bizarre." When Leia didn't respond, Luke changed the subject to business. "Well, let's just let the rest of the Alliance know that I'm okay, and we're on our way to finding out what happened to Nekem. I mean, we're off planet now, so we can check the advice of those Toydarians." Luke smiled.

"Alright." Leia sighed. "We should have it coded just in case someone is tracking us: short and sweet. Harder for them to break the code that way."

The Emperor was rarely ever truly happy, but today he was the furthest from it that he had been in a long time. To say that he was mad would have been an understatement. Not only was Skywalker not dead, but Vader was not either. He was starting to doubt his foresight abilities, and that was something that he did not like.

He knew that Jade was dead, and that was a pity. The Emperor had begun to actually start to like her. However, Palpatine also knew that she could be replaced. No big deal there. But Vader, on the other hand, would be much harder. Where was he to find an apprentice now? The Emperor gazed out over the grand city of Coruscant. The twilight colors danced magnificently over the planet.

Of course! Skywalker could be his next apprentice. He had planned on turning the boy by killing Vader, but now, he would just have to think of something else.

"Milord." One of his guards interrupted his thoughts.

"What is it?" Palpatine hissed. The guard handed him several data cards.

"This is the information that Nekem was able to give us. There is a significant amount about Skywalker in it." Palpatine smiled.

"Ah, yes. This will be put to good use. Go back to your business." Palpatine dismissed his guard as he greedily looked at the data card. Yes, he knew it was only a matter of time before Skywalker was his. The Emperor's foul mood had turned into one of deranged pleasure. If he were patient, he would have his newest puppet soon enough.

Anakin swore softly underneath his breath as he felt his son's Force presence fade further and further away from Rempinto. He had wanted to contact his son before Luke returned to the Rebellion.

He decided to contact him through the Force.

'Luke' Anakin sent.

Luke stiffened. It was that voice again. The one that claimed to be Anakin Skywalker.

"Leia," Luke turned to his sister, "I think Vader is trying to contact me through the Force." Luke explained. Leia straightened her shoulders back.

"Do you think he was in range to receive the message that we sent?" Leia asked, her voice full of concern.

"No." Luke answered honestly. "But I don't know what to say to him. I believe Jallishka. I really believe what I told you before hand. It seems that he really wants to change. Perhaps...perhaps we should talk to him."

"I don't want to see him." Leia inhaled sharply.

"Well, I do. I need to see if I can do something. I will always regret it if I do nothing." Leia nodded her head.

"Do what you can. We can drop you off at a nearby planet, and Jallishka can come with you. It sure does seem that he will go to great lengths to protect you. Talk to Vader, or, whatever it is you do within your mind. There is no way I want him to follow us." Leia wrapped her arms around herself. Luke could see that she was utterly repulsed by the idea that Vader was her sire. She seemed to take it that with him as her father, it made her responsible for everything that he did. However, he also saw how much she wanted him to want redemption. That was saying to her that her father was not as bad as he made out to be. Still, the idea of Vader being good was not something anyone was going to take lightly. Luke would give her as much time as she needed to battle out her demons.

'Father?' Luke sent through the Force.

'Yes?' The quiet voice sent back hopefully.

'Let's designate a meeting place. Jallishka will come with me.' Luke hoped that he was making the right decision.

'Is your sister coming?' Luke inhaled a deep breath.

'You knew about her?' He asked accusingly.

'When I brushed your mind not to long ago, I felt her presence. It was like yours, only...different. Just like normal twins, and you just confirmed it for me.' Luke winced as he realized that he could have just given away vital information.

'She does not wish to come.' There was a long pause before Vader answered.

'She hates me.' Anakin sent through the Force. He knew that she did, but to be rejected to even be talked to hurt like hell. Anakin cursed himself a thousand times over for ruining his own life. He could have been happy, if only he had done what Obi-Wan had told him to.

'We can meet at Gefoga.' Luke suggested. Anakin checked to see how far away it was. It was less than two parsecs, so that would work out well.

'I will find you there.' Anakin assured him.

'Fine then.' Luke cut the conversation off there.

"I will do my best to be worthy to be called your father."

**Next part...Face to Face**

(Just as an fyi, when I first wrote this fic, I actually asked people in the author's notes if they wanted to see Mara end up as an important character or not, and the reviewers who responded said no. I do actually really love Mara!)


	14. Chapter 14: Face to Face

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 14: Face to Face**

Luke maneuvered his X-wing with caution as the high-winds of Gefoga rocked his ship. Artoo twittered nervously to remind Luke that the ship was not capable of standing up to such high winds for such a long period of time.

"We're nearly there." Luke reassured the little droid. He looked around for an indiscreet place to land. Han had managed to forge a new X-wing number, as well as a new ID for himself so that they would not be recognized. Luke new that there was Imperial presence on Gefoga, so he knew that he couldn't risk landing where the majority did. He sighed in remembrance. Han had not been happy when he had heard about his decision to go to Gefoga. He had been even less happy to agree to find a separate ship for Jallishka to fly by himself. Han still did not like Jallishka being near Luke.

Jallishka had arrived the day before, and he and Luke had decided that they would not make contact until Luke had reached the surface.

Luke considered himself a good pilot, but he didn't hesitate to let out a sigh of relief when he finally landed. Artoo let out a small beep of joy as well. After he was satisfied with the security of his ship, Luke set out to find a small local terminal, Artoo following obediently behind. He keyed Jallishka's comlink and gave him the signal that he arrived and where he was. It only took about a minute for Jallishka's reply to come back through.

_I'll be there in two standard hours_, was the message that Luke got. Knowing that he had time to kill, Luke decided to grab something to eat. He had seen a strip of restaurants and pubs lining their way down the main roadway that Luke had walked to find the terminal. He headed back up to a pub that looked half-decent.

* * *

Han looked over the information that the Toydarian had given them when they had first arrived on Rempinto. They already knew where Luke was, and had been, but now Han focused on the other details, like where Nekem had last been seen. He had accessed his bank account from an unknown planet, and Han picked up the co-ordinates and found the approximate place where the planet would be. He checked his map and sure enough, a planet sat there on the outer-rim territories with no apparent system title.

"We need to go there." Han pointed at the place on the digital map. Leia frowned.

"I do not like the idea of leaving Luke so far away with Vader so close to him." Leia said firmly.

"What are we gonna do? Do you want to alert the entire fleet? Hey, come on. I mean, those reports that the Alliance sent to us said that Vader was dead. Luke probably won't even end up meeting with Vader." Han remarked off-handedly.

"Do you really believe that?" Leia wondered. Leia's eyes locked onto Han's, and she could tell that he didn't. He looked away without responding.

"I thought you didn't want to see your father." Han replied. Leia's eyes flashed at him coldly.

"He's not my father," she snapped, "I'm just rethinking my decision, that's all."

"So, in other words, go spy on the kid?" Han gave her a quirky smile.

"You make it sound so terrible." Leia muttered. "Fine, let's go to this wayward planet. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Me too." Han replied under his breath.

* * *

Gefoga looked beautiful from space, Anakin mused to himself. Lush colors covered the planet, and Anakin wondered now that he no longer held service to the Emperor, where he could possibly go into hiding if his son did not wish for his help. Anakin frowned at that thought. If his son did not allow him to help, he would feel even more responsible for the pain he had caused. He wished to do something. He knew that he could never make up for the terrible things that he had done, but still, to sit around and do nothing was not an option in his mind.

The winds whipped around his ship, but Anakin had no worries about it. Watto had trained him years ago about flying in winds, just in case he was ever in a pod-race when a sand storm began.

Thinking back to those days, he realized he had been happier as a slave than as a Sith lord. He had always needed to be the person someone looked to as a lean on. In his younger years it had been his mom, and even as he trained as a Jedi, he had always imagined himself as the person his mom looked to to come back and liberate her. Then, of course, there had been Padmé, and Anakin wondered where he had gone wrong with her. Had it been from the start? But that was something that was too painful for him to dwell on for very long.

Now he had his children. Or at least his son. Luke seemed to want to help him, and in return, Anakin desperately wanted to help his son in return: in this case, giving Luke valued information about the Empire. Anakin wondered about Leia though. The Force had always let him know that she was much more important to him just a source of information. He had realized that when Tarkin had told Vader to kill the princess. Some paternal instinct had kept making up excuses for Vader not to kill her. Anakin grimaced at that thought.

All of those reasons had been barely better than death.

Anakin stretched out with the Force to find his son's Force presence. It glowed brightly and untamed through the Force. It was a wonder he had not seen it before. He suspected it had to do with the efficiency that his former master had done in hiding Luke. Anakin smiled at the thought of his master, something he had not done in years. Although he had also felt that he could out-stripe Obi-Wan's skills, even as a padawan, he had always felt pride in his Jedi master's abilities. He had found out the hard way that Obi-Wan was a better swordsman when he challenged Obi-Wan to a duel years before.

He shook his head. It did not do any good to dwell on the past and forget to live his life. Anakin guided his craft with gentle ease into the docking bay where he suspected his son's X-wing to be. Sure enough, Anakin noticed a lopsided cover that he recognized as the form of an X-wing. He got out of his own ship (one that he had designed himself) and followed the blaze of Luke's presence. Anakin felt a strange sort of anxiousness that he had not felt at their last encounter. He was meeting his son. His son. Anakin did not know why it felt so good to say those words over and over again in his mind. Perhaps it was because this time he hoped for more from his son besides obedience. He wanted someone to love him again. Anakin laughed out loud. It amused him to think of someone loving him when he was nothing but a monster. Luke had been right about him.

Anakin reached the small pub where Luke waited. He looked through the window, and saw his son. Jallishka sat nearby, as well as a little droid. It looked strangely familiar, but Anakin did not take a second look as he entered the pub. He inhaled deeply, and began to walk over to his son.

"Have you contacted Han and Leia?" Jallishka asked in his raspy voice as he sat down at Luke's table. Luke had jumped; he had not heard the alien's approach.

"Not yet, I was going to wait until we met him." Luke explained. Jallishka looked at the cup Luke had before him.

"You are drinking alcohol?" Jallishka said in a scolding tone of voice. Luke rolled his eyes. All he needed was for some alien who had tried to kill him to tell him what he should and should not do.

"No. I'm not stupid. I need to be able to think straight." Luke muttered. Not that he hadn't tried. The legal drinking age on Tatooine was 17, but at this place it was 24, and Luke had not thought to ask Han to give him an older age on his fake ID. Luke had finished his lunch about ten minutes ago, but Jallishka ordered something, so Luke asked for a small desert.

In the middle of eating the fruit-filled pastry, Luke felt the strange sensation that he was being watched. He looked up in mid-bite to see a tall man staring back at him. His face was well weathered, and he looked like he had once been quite handsome, but his eyes interested Luke the most. His eyes were almost exactly the same color as his, and they looked as if they held deep secrets that people only had nightmares about. Luke didn't realize he had been staring until the man came over to their table.

"May I sit with you?" The man smiled, his voice quite smooth and easy to listen to. Luke shrugged and scooted over for the man to sit down. Jallishka, on the other hand, looked utterly shocked.

"Master?" Jallishka practically squeaked. Luke did a double take. His fork dropped to his plate with a clatter of surprise.

"Father...?" Luke whispered. The man spoke:

"I told you I had changed."

**Next part...Father and Son**


	15. Chapter 15: Father and Son

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 15: Father and Son**

If Anakin had not been so nervous about receiving Luke's acceptance, he would have found his son's face quite humorous. Luke sat, his mouth hanging open, staring with utter disbelief.

"Hi." Luke managed. Anakin lifted his eyebrows, and gave Luke a genuine smile. He could tell that he had knocked Luke's senses out again. Jallishka, on the other hand, had regained his composure.

"It is nice to see you looking so healthy milord." Jallishka uttered as way of greeting.

"Thank you for looking after my son. May I sit?" He asked, pointing to the chair. Luke, his mouth still hanging open, nodded dumbly. A waiter scurried over to take Anakin's order. Anakin looked hesitantly at the menu. He had only had rations since he had been out of his suit, and he had forgotten the foods that he liked. It may have done him some good if he had done more meditation other than just to heal his wounds with the lightside. He should have healed his memories as well. Anakin knew that the darkside had washed some of those away as well.

'Luke, any suggestions? I am not familiar with any of these items.' Anakin sent through their Force bond. Luke jumped out of his chair at the sudden question. The waiter looked at him strangely.

Luke just smiled awkwardly at the waiter's questioning glance, and sat back in his seat.

'The local fish was good.' Luke managed to send.

"I'll have the local Gefogaen Tratall Fish." Anakin said aloud to the waiter.

"That comes with '54 wine. Which kind would you like?" The waiter asked in an exasperated tone.

"Red please." Anakin replied. The waiter waddled away with his order. It was a good thing that Anakin had taken some money out of his account before the Emperor got a hold of him. He might cancel his account. It was not wise for him to access it anyway because then the Emperor could always trace him. A sudden realization hit Anakin, and he stored it away for later use. Right now, he had to speak with his son.

"Milord, if you do not need my services, I think I shall guard the ships." Jallishka said. Both Skywalkers could tell that he wanted to give them privacy.

"Yes of course." Anakin said, giving him a kind smile. Jallishka left the table. The other two watched as he went to the cashier and paid for his food there.

"I have so many questions that I want to ask you," Anakin admitted to Luke, "but I think it only fair if you ask first."

Jallishka looked over at Luke's X-wing. Using his sense of smell, he figured out which one had his master's scent on it. It was faint, but he found it. He wished to know what happened to Darth Vader. Not only was his appearance different, but so was his personality. He had smiled at Jallishka, and it had made him feel so proud. Now he wondered though. Luke was definitely a member of the Alliance, so where should his loyalties lie? All he knew was that something major was going to happen.

Luke stared at the man sitting before him. He realized that this man had said something to him, but his mind had not registered that fact yet. He was still trying to figure out if this was his father or not. Blinking, Luke said dumbly:

"Could you repeat that please?" The man sitting before him raised his eyebrows in a way that made him look comical.

"Don't you wish to ask me any questions?" He prompted. A million buzzed through Luke's mind. He blurted out the first one that came to mind, and immediately wished he hadn't.

"Why are you so much taller than I am?" The man who claimed to be his father didn't laugh, as Luke had expected.

"You're mother was fairly short. You are taller than she was." He replied.

"Oh." Luke could only come up with the one word. The man sat there looking at him inquisitively.

"Actually, you might take after my mother. She was even shorter than your mother." Luke looked at the man curiously. He had always imagined himself talking to his father, had always wished for the chance, but now, he wasn't sure what to ask. The man seemed to take the initiative though, all of a sudden, memories started to flood back into his mind, and he began to retell his life story.

"I lived on Tatooine until I was nine years old," Luke's head shot up in response. Anakin continued. "My mother and I had been slaves to Gardulla the Hutt, but she lost us betting on the Pod-races to a junk dealer named Watto. While working in Watto's shop one afternoon, a curious looking group came into the shop..." Luke listened intently as his father explained most of his life story. For Luke, it was finally learning about the heroic father that he had always dreamed of. Pod-races, light-saber duels, Blood Carver's trying to assassin him, being captured as a slave to work the Kessel mines, pretending to be a student at a wealthy school, being targeted by a man who had killed a Jedi Council member, and his love for Luke's mother.

The man before him faltered for a minute, and Luke looked at him with a question on his lips, but the man continued before Luke got a chance to ask it. His voice had become low so that no one else could hear the conversation. Luke leaned in to hear him better, and he listened with mortified fascination as the heroic father that he had always longed for, slowly turned into the monster that he had grown to despise but forgive, and had come to accept as his true father.

"I made contact with the Emperor," he explained, "and I realized I didn't want him to have you. Ever since before I could remember, I have always wanted a proper family. I never had a father growing up, and when I finally got Obi-Wan as a father figured, I could not even see my real mother. After you left, I felt as though I had let you down." The man looked at him. He gave a short laugh and turned his face down to look at his hands. "You were right. I had become a monster." With those words, Luke knew that the man before him was his father. He was no longer a monster, he was no longer a sith lord, he was Anakin Skywalker, HIS father. Luke got up from his seat and embraced his father in a hug. Anakin looked at him surprised, but hugged his son back. The two realized that there were still other people in the pub, and a little alien looked at them curiously. They broke apart, embarrassed.

Anakin looked around, slightly embarrassed that his son would hug him in public, and yet pleased at the same time. With a sudden growl of his stomach, he realized that the waiter had not brought him his food yet.

"Where's my lunch? I'm starving." Anakin muttered. Luke burst out laughing. Anakin raised his eyebrows again. He realized that he had been doing that a lot. He guessed he had picked it up from one of the commanders that he had always seen working on some sort of scheme to get the Emperor's appreciation.

"We have a lot in common. I used to live on Tatooine. I love to fly, and those two droids you had sound so much like my two. C-3P0 and R2-D2." Luke explained. Anakin's mouth opened lightly in surprise.

"You mean you own Threepio and Artoo?" Anakin blurted out. The waiter took that moment to finally show up with Anakin's food. Anakin thanked him.

"How do you know them?" Luke wondered.

"Threepio was the protocol droid I built to help my mom, and Artoo was the little droid that your mother owned. I remember joking to her once about him. We were both nervous because she wasn't ready to leave Courscant because her negotiations weren't finished, and I was nervous because protecting her was my first assignment alone. I told her we shouldn't worry because we had Artoo with us."

"You've got to be kidding." Luke said, muffling a laugh.

"No. Though I don't think that they'll remember me that well. I think I might have actually erased their memories around the time that I fell to the dark side so as to attempt to erase myself from the galaxy's memories, and if I didn't someone else might have." Anakin said through mouthfuls of his lunch.

"What do you mean you think you might have erased their memories? Don't you remember?" Luke wondered.

"Well," Anakin finished chewing his mouthful, "my memories from those times are very few and scattered. For all I know, I might have actually had known that you and Leia were my children." Anakin became quiet after that, and Luke knew what his father was thinking.

Could Leia ever forgive me? Luke let his father eat in peace for a few minutes before asking him another question.

"What are you planning to do with the information that you have?" Luke wondered.

"I plan to use you as a mediator. I know that they would not want Darth Vader to come to any of their bases, so I need you to give them the information." Anakin said lightly.

"They'll kill you if they find you. You may have information for them, but by the codes that the Alliance follows, you deserve to receive the death sentence. We cannot tell them who you are." Luke said firmly. Anakin laid his fork down on his empty plate.

"I deserve whatever punishment they give me." Anakin stated in a quiet voice. Luke knew that he regretted all that he had done.

"Don't you understand? You can be so much more helpful to us alive! You have incredible knowledge that could help us bring back and then stabilize the Republic." Luke babbled.

"Luke-" Anakin started to argue, but Luke cut him off.

"I just found you." Luke rushed on. "You said you wanted the chance to a family. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen may have loved me dearly, and I them, but it wasn't the same." Anakin knew what Luke was talking about, and Luke could tell. It made him smile to know that his father could understand him so well.

*Yes, yes! Convince him that he is needed.* The voices said. Luke shook his head. Anakin looked at him.

"What is it?" Anakin asked concerned.

"I keep hearing these voices." Luke mumbled.

"Midi-chlorians." Anakin explained Luke about how they lived inside his cells and talked to him.

"Some can literally hear them, others cannot. I used to be able to when I was younger, but as I grew older, I stopped hearing them. Obi-Wan said it was because they can only talk to us in a human voice for a certain amount of time. Now, are you ready to leave this place?" Anakin asked. Luke looked around and nodded. They stood up, and Anakin pulled out his money and placed it down on the table, enough for his and Luke's. Luke thanked him.

They left. Luke smiled to himself. He wondered if Artoo really did remember his father. Well, there was only one way to find out.

* * *

The Emperor lightly tapped his fingers together, a nefarious grin on his face. He hadn't had a challenge in a while, and turning young Skywalker to the darkside would be quite unpleasant...for young Skywalker.

**Next part...The Chase**


	16. Chapter 16: The Chase

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 16: The Chase**

Jallishka watched un-nerved as another Noghri approached Luke's ship. He wasn't sure what to do. If he attacked the other Noghri, then he would be thought a traitor. He did not wish to fight his own kind, but he knew that he was assigned to protect young Skywalker at all costs, and that had come from Lord Vader himself, so he was sure he would be able to explain himself. Silently he approached the other Noghri. He recognized her and called out to her.

"Opregash, clan Ruklend, if you sabotage the ship, you go against Lord Vader's orders." Jallishka called out.

"Who's there?" Opregash whirled around, her senses on edge.

"Jallishka, clan Mortio." Jallishka said as he stepped out from his hiding spot.

"What's this about Lord Vader's orders?" Jallishka noted with a frown that she tightly gripped a knife in her hand. Jallishka hoped he could explain quickly.

* * *

Luke grinned as he amused himself by picturing his father and Artoo strolling along together. He kept picturing Darth Vader which, surprisingly, did not make it a horrible thought but rather quite comical.

"What are you grinning about?" His father asked curiously.

"Just an amusing thought." Luke replied, his grin fading at his childish thinking.

"Care to enlighten me?" Anakin asked politely.

"Not really, no." Luke answered truthfully. Anakin shook his head and followed Luke back to the hangar where their ships laid docked. Jallishka appeared from behind Luke's ship as they got closer. Anakin and Luke watched in silence as he called out to another Noghri.

'The Emperor must have tracked you again.' Anakin sent through his and Luke's Force bond so as not to attract any attention to themselves. Luke's hand reached for his lightsaber, but his father gripped his hand lightly. 'I know this Noghri. If I can get close enough to her, she will know who I am, and obey me.'

"What's this about Lord Vader's orders?" Opregash demanded. They watched as she pulled a knife out.

"He ordered-" Jallishka began to explain, but the other Noghri cut him off.

"Lord Vader is dead, and according to files, it is your fault. You were not there to protect him as you should have been!"

Jallishka froze in place, his confusion giving Opregash enough time to throw her knife. Anakin stopped it mid-air with the Force.

Opregash looked around in confusion and spotted Anakin and Luke. She became angry at herself as she realized that she had allowed her guard to drop enough so that others could stop her actions.

"This is none of your concern sorcerer." She said, her voice firm.

"Yes it is Opregash. I do not appreciate when my orders are not obeyed, and I think that you should know that I am far from dead." Anakin spoke in a rich tone that captured one's attention. She moved close enough so that she could smell him.

"Lord Vader?" Opregash gasped as she inhaled Anakin's scent, recognizing the same blood as the former sith lord. He smiled.

"I will explain things later. As for now, I do hope that you have not done anything to my son's ship." Anakin said pleasantly.

She shook her head, now turning her attention to Luke, linking his scent to Anakin's.

"We must leave here now. There are others that are following me, and I believe that they are no friends of yours." Opregash blurted out in a rush.

"What are you talking about?" Jallishka asked. Luke's Jedi sense picked up on what Opregash was talking about a second before it happened. Lasers started to fly around the four of them. Anakin and Luke pulled out their lightsabers, and began to head for cover under their ships.

"I guess with my failure, the Emperor no longer fully trusts the Noghri." Jallishka said wryly, as he headed for his own ship.

"Split up, confuse them." Anakin directed as he jumped into his ship. He flipped the shields on upon entering. Luke hopped into his X-wing, receiving a few terrified beeps from Artoo. Artoo didn't need to be told to flip on the shields; he had done it immediately when he saw the laser blasts begin to fly. Luke watched with a bemused expression as he witnessed the two Noghri both jump into Jallishka's ship. Opregash was clutching her right arm as though she had been hit.

Anakin's ship lifted off and hovered in the air for about five seconds, and then soared away as a blur. Luke followed suit, heading in the other direction. Jallishka and Opregash, Luke saw before speeding off, headed in the general direction as his father.

He suspected they thought that would take the brunt of the blow away from him. In less than five minutes he had three ships on his scopes. They were catching up on him quickly, and Luke wondered how that was possible.

"What's going on Artoo?" Luke asked incredulously as the ships gained with incredible speed. Luke looked at the control screen as Artoo informed him that their pursuers had left from another port not far away. Luke sighed. That seemed reasonable. If they weren't sure exactly which space port he had landed on, then they would have been spread out, which meant that his father and Jallishka probably had tails now too.

'Father, is there anyone following you?' Luke sent through their mind bond.

'Besides Jallishka? No.' Anakin sent, his thoughts turning to worry. 'How many are on you?' He asked.

'Three. I can take them. They're just gaining fast, that's all.' Luke tried to reassure him, but it wasn't working.

'I'll head back towards you.' Anakin said.

'That's not a good idea. I'm sure the group that attacked us at the spaceport is already flying your way. They must have alerted another group because they didn't appear on my scopes until I entered the Yurtal region. Besides, they were already in Terrian Formation so they were expecting me to fly by.' Luke explained.

'Terrian Formation? That's a standard smuggler's tactic.' Anakin sent.

'Yes, but didn't the Empire also deal with smugglers?' Luke wondered.

'Of course. But usually not as public as this. And you did say that they were gaining quickly. I don't like the sound of them gaining on you that quickly. X-wings may not be the best of ships,' Luke made an indignant grunt, 'but they should be able to outrun most smugglers.'

'Well, I do have an ex-smuggler friend,' Luke momentarily wondered what Han and Leia were up to 'whose ship is quite capable of outrunning starships.'

'You mean the freighter that got sucked into the tractor beam?' Anakin sent to Luke in realization.

'Yes that's-' Luke cut off his sentence as a blast racked his ship.

'Luke what happened?' Anakin's "voice" sounded worried.

'I'm not sure. It seems that the upper right exhaust vent was hit, and instead of creating a hole, the heat of the blast acted as a weld and closed the vent opening. It must have exploded due to building pressure. That's the only thing that I can think of that could have happened.'

'What else exploded with it?' Anakin wondered.

'I'm not sure.' But Luke wasn't worried about what else exploded at the moment. He couldn't see his pursuers anywhere on his scopes. Luke looked around in his seat, but the small windows on either side of him didn't help. 'I can't see any of them. It's like they just vanished.'

Luke looked down at his scopes again, and realized the reason that the other ships had disappeared. 'There are four heavily armed ships coming in fast from the other way.' Luke sent through the link, doing his best not to sound panicked.

'That's it! I'm turning the ship around.' Anakin's worry had increased a hundred fold.

'No!' Luke sent, annoyance in his voice. 'The ships have probably high-tailed it in your direction.

'They won't expect me to be coming back then.' Anakin argued with Luke.

'But-' Luke felt a sudden jolt as the connection with his father was lost. 'Father?' He asked worriedly. What had happened?

Had his father been hit? He didn't know, but he had a bad feeling about it, whatever had happened. He tried to use his radio, but it wasn't working.

"Artoo, see what you can do to fix the radio." Artoo beeped that he would work on it, but Luke didn't dwell on what happened to his father for long because the approaching ships had all formed a circle around him. Luke spotted a reactor field in front of him. He dove for the area, hoping that his pursuers would at least have the intelligence not to shoot at him and start a nuclear reaction.

Luke was right with his assumption that they wouldn't shoot at him, but they were gaining on him as the other ships had done. He wondered why his ship had been going so slow, and he realized it was because of the ship's injury. A beep from Artoo made his fears a reality. His ship was not only slowing down, it was going down. Luke made a sharp turn to the left, his new pursuers still not shooting at him. Pulling the front of his ship up, he barely managed to clear the reactors below him and managed to crash land into brush instead of the reactors.

His radio fuzzed, and Luke realized that Artoo had fixed it. Though it was a little too late, for his pursuers were already landing and surrounding his ship. With no other option, Luke opened the hatch of his ship and jumped out of the X-wing. Before he had gone two steps, a familiar voice called out to him.

"Luke!" Luke spun around to see Wedge Antilles come running out of one of the four ships.

"Wedge!" Luke hollered back, a smile gracing his face.

"You're alive! We tried contacting you on your radio-" Wedge began. Luke interrupted.

"It's busted. Listen, we need to help my friends. They're in a great deal of trouble." Luke said seriously.

"We saw the group of fighters on your tail. Seems we must have scared them off." Wedge gave Luke a searching look. "Luke, what's going on?"

"I'll explain as we go to help out my friends." Wedge nodded as he led Luke into one of the ships.

"So why are you in these ships?" Luke asked as he looked around the nicely furnished ships. Luke looked around sheepishly at the ship. He hadn't realized in his panic that these ships were not at all used for fighting, and unless the owner had paid a good sum of money for a license, they were not supposed to have anything besides defense weaponry.

"I guess that's one that I'll have to explain as we go too."

Luke followed Wedge down a small, dimly lit corridor. Luke felt his head swim as the ship took off. How was he supposed to explain to his friends that they were rescuing ex-sith lord, Darth Vader? Not to mention the little fact that he happened to be Luke's father.

Luke sighed. He really hoped that he would be able to get out of this one.

**Next part...How to Piss Off an Emperor**


	17. Chapter 17: How to Piss Off an Emperor

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 17: How to Piss Off an Emperor**

Leia couldn't believe their luck. Peumla was a neutral planet that traded with both the Empire and the Alliance, but they mistrusted all races besides their own. The Pemulaps who resided on Peumla all had light coats of black fur that covered them head to toe. They reminded Leia of walking blankets. Han and Leia had been asked by the local government to wear cloaks to make them look like the Pemulaps. It was a perfect place for anyone to blend in.

It hadn't taken them long to pinpoint Nekem, and it had taken even less time for them to find him. Apparently, upon his arrival, he had upset some locals by refusing to wear the cloaks; he had been allergic to the fur. Leia and Han had located Nekem in less than a half an hour because he stuck out like white paint against a black background.

He had been among a bunch of nervous looking Pemulaps at a small market area, discussing the Force knew what in hushed voices. Han and Leia had then followed the group to a deserted ally. Now all Leia and Han had to do was to figure out how they were going to get Nekem.

"What are they saying?" Han muttered to Leia.

"I can't understand their accent any better than you can, but if you would shut-up, then I might be able to comprehend what they're saying." Leia snapped.

"You're beautiful when you're angry." Han whispered in her ear. Leia glared at him, wondering whether or not she should slap him or kiss him.

"Shut-up!" She hissed. Her brain was thinking furiously of what they should do.

"Look, the Pemulaps don't look like they have any weaponry on them, and it only looks like Nekem has a small blaster on his belt. I think we might actually be able to take them by surprise." Han surveyed the situation as well. Leia sighed.

"I don't have any better ideas, but the thought of hurting the Pemulaps when we don't know where they stand in this makes me feel-"

"Listen sweetheart," Han interrupted, "if they're innocent, then they won't attack us." Leia wished that they had more time to think about what was going on, but she reasoned that they really didn't have much time. She wanted Nekem captured as soon as possible so that they could go back to check on Luke.

"Fine. Tell Chewie what we're up to." Han nodded as he pulled out his comlink and informed Chewie of what they were doing. Leia kept watch. Han switched off the channel and motioned to Leia that he was ready. Leia switched her blaster to stun.

"Don't move!" Han bellowed, pointing his blaster at the suspicious looking group. The Pemulaps all positioned themselves against the closest wall. Leia recognized it as a defense mechanism. Nekem, on the other hand, reached for his blaster. Leia shot him, her stun blast getting him right in his stomach, causing him to fall over.

"Gotcha." Leia smirked. Her smile faded as she saw all of the furry creatures pull out their own weapons. Han looked around at all of them.

"Hands up." One of the Pemulaps ordered.

"I should have known it couldn't be this easy." Han muttered to himself as he threw his weapon down at the beckoning motions of the Pemulaps.

Leia threw her weapon down, hoping Luke was doing better than they were.

* * *

Luke sat at the front of the ship as he tried making contact with his father again. His father was blocking their link for some reason.

'Father, what's wrong?' Luke tried again, but still he received no response.

Anakin felt his son trying to contact them through their link, but he knew that if he were to try and send a message to Luke that way, Luke would be dead in an instant. The only comforting thought that Anakin had was that Luke had somehow managed to get away from his attackers. The problem was, Anakin had felt the presence of their attacker.

The Emperor had managed to find them, and he was here. His old master's presence had come so suddenly that he knew that he had just jumped out of hyperspace. Anakin had immediately stopped contacting Luke, and hoped that Luke would have the good sense to stop trying to contact him through the Force, for the Emperor would surely be able to sense Luke's power.

"Obi-Wan! Protect Luke." Anakin whispered.

* * *

The Emperor looked out at Pemula. His old apprentice was here; he could sense his presence. And for a glimmer of a second, he had felt an incredible tremor in the Force. It could only come from the raw potential of a Force user.

Anger surged through the Emperor. He had an awful feeling that Anakin had already made contact with his son, and that Luke had welcomed him with open arms. That's not quite what the Emperor had foreseen. He had thought that Luke would be angry, hateful, or at least scared at the thought of Darth Vader being his father, but it seemed that he had been wrong.

The Emperor hated being wrong.

He sat on his throne, strumming his fingers on the arm of his chair, feeling disappointment wash over him. He didn't like the feeling, and decided taunting his ex-fellow sith lord would make him feel so much better.

'Pity the boy has accepted you, Anakin.' The Emperor sent through the weak link that he still had to his old apprentice. There was no response, but he knew that he had been heard. He continued, smiling as he imagined the discomfort on Anakin's face.

'I would have given him everything you once had, and more as well, but now, I must kill him.' The Emperor smiled as he felt the ripple of anger coming from Anakin's Force presence.

* * *

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering," Yoda had once said to the newly liberated slave boy.

Those words had had no meaning on young Anakin. He had suffered so much as a slave; he hadn't understood how his fear would ever lead to suffering like what he had been through as a slave, but now he understood; he understood that it was the worst kind of suffering one could experience.

Anakin could not let his anger cloud his judgment again. He let his anger flow through him, and yet not consumed him as Obi-Wan had tried to teach him so many years ago. With a smile, Anakin realized that he could do it much easier now.

'You've pushed me far enough wrinkles. I think it is time you get your own.' Anakin sent through their bond. Straining heavily, Anakin severed all ties he had to the Emperor and blocked his Force presence from his old master.

* * *

The Emperor was pissed.

**Next part...Hiding and Finding**


	18. Chapter 18: Hiding and Finding

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 18: Hiding and Finding**

"Where are we going Rogue Leader?" Wedge asked cautiously. Luke had not been himself since he had last seen him. He had heard that Darth Vader had gotten a hold of him, and he wondered what the sith lord had done to his friend. Luke seemed to snap out of some sort of trance upon hearing Wedge's voice. Luke looked over at his friend and smiled.

"I'm not quite sure, but all I know is that we have to head in the opposite direction that I had been following. Some friends are in danger, and if they are caught, the consequences could be quite grave." Luke explained evasively. Wedge nodded, not pushing any more questioning.

"How did you find me?" Luke wondered.

"After the ordeal with Nekem's escape, Rogue squadron went looking for the bastard. We realized that he would probably be keeping a look out for ships owned by the Alliance, but you know with our limited supplies that it's impossible to keep the ships that we have regulated. These ships are a prototype that some of our guys have been working on. They were supposed to look like Yachts to fool enemies, but they're loaded with the state of the art attack weaponry." Wedge explained. Luke looked around the cock-pit at the controls.

"I don't see anything that could control the hidden weapons, or anything that looks remotely like it. Besides, this wouldn't be that ideal for a fight; it's too bulky." Luke pointed out.

"That's the idea, to make it look that way. In reality, the control panel has a special mechanism that will flip the top tray upside down, revealing the weaponry panel. As for the size and shape of the craft, that's the beauty of it. It's size helps pick up speed, and though it doesn't look very maneuverable, it is, with the right know how." Luke looked around impressed.

"I didn't know that the Alliance had such resources." Luke said.

"Well, there are a lot of areas of the Alliance that we don't know about, especially with all the new systems joining us because of what happened with Alderaan." Luke nodded in agreement, his thoughts on his father, when a sudden thought hit him.

* * *

There were so many aspects of the rebellion that it would be impossible for everyone to know who was really involved with the alliance. In fact, perhaps he could make it seem that his father was part of the alliance. Luke frowned. It would work out perfectly, perfectly as long as he could convince Leia and Han not reveal his father's secret.

Leia glanced around nervously as the Pemulaps picked up the weapons that she and Han had thrown to the ground. Leia noticed Han click on the channel to the Millennium Falcon so that Chewie could hear them.

"Who are you?" One of the aliens asked.

"None of your business." Han spat bitterly. The Pemulaps were not impressed.

"Of course it is. You shot our only link to finding someone of great value to us." This Pemulap seemed to be the spokesman of the group. Or woman. Leia couldn't quite tell the gender.

"Luke Skywalker?" Leia asked cautiously. The group looked at her suspiciously.

"You are after the bounty on his head too?" The Spokesman demanded.

"Yes." Leia lied quickly, an idea forming in her mind. "We already know where he is." Han gave her a disbelieving glance, until he got the hint.

"We could split the money with you." Han interjected, easily following Leia's lead.

"Didn't you know that there was a bounty on Nekem's head also?" Han lied smoothly. "Alive, naturally." He added.

"You idiot! How're we going to get the extra 70,000 if they have Nekem?" Leia yelled, pretending to get angry.

"Me? You were the one that revealed we know where Skywalker is!" Han spat back. The Pemulaps looked on amused as they watched the transaction. Leia hid her smile, seeing they had taken the bait.

"Really? Skywalker is a hard target, but we knew how to get the information. Seeing as how we already have this one, we won't need Skywalker." The Pemulap grinned, as if he had won some sort of great victory, as he turned to the others in the group.

"I told you turning into bounty hunters would be worth it. Easy cash. Since you already know where Skywalker is, we'll just take Nekem then." He pointed the blaster at Leia and Han. "On the other hand, we don't know where we can get Nekem's bounty. How about you give us 65,000 now, and we give you Nekem."

"I have the money." Leia said smiling. Han gave her a sharp look. She saw him mouth to her. 'No you don't!' Leia gave him a look to reassure him that she knew what she was doing.

She moved her hand to her lower pocket. The Pemulaps were so eager for the money that they didn't have time to realize that she was holding a blaster instead of money. She had stunned the entire group before they had a chance to react.

"Smooth thinking." Han said impressed. "Did you learn that in finishing school?" Han asked.

"Can it." She grabbed the spare cloak and threw it over Nekem's body.

"Chewie? You there?" Han asked into the comm channel. He received a growl in response. Han grinned and translated. "He says that you would make a fine smuggler."

"Thanks Chewie." She said dryly.

"Bring the ship around two blocks from...where are we? Ah," Han spotted the street sign, "Loopic." Han read, trying to interpret the decorative symbols on the sign.

"What are we going to do with them?" Leia asked, looking at the group of Pemulaps. She walked warily over to each one, checking to make sure that they were un-harmed. "It's not a pleasant feeling to wake up from being stunned." Leia remembered her own experience when her ship had been taken over by Lord Vader. She gave a small shudder. Her father. Leia shook her head. She didn't understand how she could be related to someone like that, but Luke had seemed so sure that there was more than met the eye about Vader.

Leia remembered the stories that Bail had told her about her biological father. He had said that he had been a great warrior, fearless, kind, and that he had loved her mother very much. It was hard to picture the monster and the hero as one in the same.

*Trust your feelings.* Leia looked around, wondering where the voice came from. She assumed Han had said it.

"What was that?" Leia wondered, looking at Han.

"I said, we should probably move these guys into the ally more. Hide them better." Han said, not noticing the strange look she was giving him. Leia shook her head.

"I think we need to go to Gefoga as soon as possible." Leia said distractedly.

"I thought that you didn't want to see Vader." Han winced as he realized his mistake about mentioning him. Leia cringed slightly, but she didn't burst out savagely at him for being inconsiderate.

"All I know is that I have a feeling that I should go there. We need Nekem too, of course." Leia added.

"Yeah, we need to know what other kind of damage he's done." Han grabbed Nekem's legs from underneath the cloak, and started dragging him down the street. Nekem's head bumped on the occasional rock, and Leia smirked as she followed Han down the street. Leia really hoped Nekem had a bad headache when he woke up.

* * *

"If I'm not mistaken, I believe we are approaching the ship that your friend is on." Wedge informed Luke. It had taken them several hours before they had finally tracked him down. Luke smiled. Yes, he was finally close enough to his father that he could feel his Force presence.

"Land here." Luke commanded. They landed in an enormous forest, far from view from anyone for miles around. It was a good hiding spot, but it also meant that it was hard for them to spot anyone coming their way. Luke felt apprehensive about what his father was planning.

Anakin smiled. He could feel that his son had come for him, and he did not sense the Emperor anywhere near them. He watched from his hiding spot as Luke emerged from the ship. He said something to one of the men who had followed him out, clearly some sort of order not to follow. He proceeded to head to an area of brush nearby where Anakin's ship lay. Anakin followed his son. Luke turned abruptly around upon feeling watched. They were hidden in the brush, and Luke smiled openly at his father, relief evident on his face.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly.

"The Emperor is here. I had to cut all ties from you or he would have felt your presence." Anakin explained.

"He's here?" Luke inhaled sharply.

"Yes." Anakin nodded.

"We should leave immediately before-"

"No," Anakin interrupted. "We must stay, find him, and kill him." Luke blanched.

"How could I possibly help? I'm not trained." Luke protested sadly. Anakin's eyes roamed over his son appraisingly.

"The training relationship between a father and son is much different than normal Padawan and Master learning." Anakin began to explain.

"Padawan? What's that?" Luke wondered. Anakin sighed.

"We will need some time alone. Tell your friends that you need to spend some time here." Luke raised his eyebrows, but did not protest. He walked out from the barrier between him and his friends.

"Wedge!" Luke called out when he was in close enough range. "Leave me here." Wedge looked at him like he was crazy.

"Are you insane? You have no idea what's out here." Wedge reprimanded.

"I know what I'm doing. Listen, what I need is for you to go back to the nearest village and cover my tracks. Make it look like I left planet, that I went somewhere far away. And don't make me pull rank on you." Luke added as Wedge began to protest. Wedge nodded his head.

"You're the boss." Wedge said, trying to make his voice sounded light and casual. "I'll get supplies for you." Wedge added.

"Thanks." Luke grinned.

"I still think that you're nuts." Luke chuckled. Luke watched sadly as his friends took off. He turned around to see that his father had already set up some sort of camp.

"What now?" Luke asked.

"Dinner. I'm starving. I forgot that I have to eat without the suit." Luke laughed.

**Next part...Making Plans**


	19. Chapter 19: Making Plans

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 19: Making Plans**

Luke and Anakin ate their rations in comfortable silence. Luke wondered what it would have been like to grow up living with his father if Anakin had never turned.

"How are we going to get rid of Palpatine?" Luke wondered after he and his father had finished eating. Anakin closed his eyes and seemed to go into a sort of trance. After a few moments, Anakin opened his eyes, looking directly at Luke, but not really seeing him.

"The Force will only show me that you and I must work together. When you are ready, then we will know."

"Did the Force tell you how long my training will be?" Luke asked slowly.

"No, but probably six months, three at best." Luke's mouth opened and closed.

"That long?" He mumbled incredulous.

"We already have an advantage with your being apprenticed to me, plus some training that you have already done. Luke, to become a Jedi when the Republic still stood took many years." Anakin explained.

"The Emperor is sure to notice that we're here within that much time." Luke pointed out.

"We're not staying here. I'm not an idiot Luke. Listen, we are going to wait here until Jallishka and Opregash find us. It will be safer if we journey with them. I know that they will come and find us. It will only be a matter of days."

"I don't see how we will be safer, and besides, what about my friends? I told them to wait for me." Luke started to think that Wedge had been right, that he had gone nuts for thinking that there would be an easy solution. He had hoped that his father would be able to fix their problem simply. It had been a foolish thought.

"Listen, your friends will only be a distraction to you during your training. It will be best to leave them here. You can not tell them where you are going. I do not trust them."

"But I do!" Luke said exasperated.

"I am sorry Luke, but we cannot take the chance. If the Emperor finds them...it is best that they not know." Luke closed his eyes and sighed.

"Fine." He muttered.

"Good. Now, first things first. We must start your training right away. It's best to start with improving your patience while attuning your awareness of the Force." Anakin began to explain how to go into a simple meditation. Luke listened attentively, finally realizing what he was getting himself into. Several hours later, Anakin and Luke both tensed at the sound of an approaching ship.

"It's Jallishka and Opregash." Anakin said, sensing their presence through the Force. "Gather your things. The sooner we get off of this planet the better."

* * *

Leia stifled a yawn as she came into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. Han turned around.

"How's our favorite prisoner doing?" He asked.

"Out cold. We gave him 30 units of proetisttal; Nekem won't wake for another couple of hours." Leia explained.

"We're coming out of hyperspace now." Han told her.

"Good. We can land on Gefoga in less than two hours. That'll make it easy for us to get him into the Alliance strong hold there."

Han pulled the Falcon out of lightspeed...

...right in front of a Super-Star Destroyer.

"You've got to be kidding me." Han groaned. He got Chewie on the comlink. "Chewie, we've got trouble." Han explained the site he was seeing, and it didn't take Chewie long to figure out that he should go and man the guns. Han didn't need to ask Leia to take her position at the guns either. All of them wondered how the Empire knew that they would be here. Leia had her suspicions.

'Vader. He tricked Luke into thinking that he had really turned, and the Empire tracked him here,' Leia thought bitterly to herself. She was angry as well. Since she had learned about Darth Vader's relationship to her, she had resented it with all her might, but with Luke's optimistic outlook, she had begun to hope that there was more to Vader than met the eye. It seemed she was wrong. A stream of TIE fighters swarmed around them. Chewie and Leia took out five of the TIEs within a minute. These were obviously not very well trained pilots.

"You would think the Star-Destroyer would have better goonies in those TIEs." Han yelled to his friends as he did a 90 degree dive, making two TIEs crash into each other. "Not that I'm complaining." Han added. Han tried to swoop around so that they could try and pass the TIEs to get around them to the safety of the other side of the planet when the controls bucked underneath his hands.

"Dammit!" He said, slamming his fist down hard on the accelerator, but it didn't help. "We're caught in the tractor beam! They're sucking us in." Chewie grumbled something.

Leia looked out her viewpoint with rage. She hated Vader for tricking Luke into this trap. But she hated herself for starting to hope that there had been something more.

* * *

Anakin felt Leia's presence as soon as she had entered Gefoga's orbit. He felt her rage. Despite Luke's lack of ability to control the Force, he could feel something was wrong as well. Luke placed the last of his bags into the Yetanaan Cruiser that Opregash had come in. He turned toward his father, a question forming on his lips.

"They're here." Anakin said simply. He didn't have to explain to Luke who he was talking about. "The Emperor has them."

Pain flashed across Luke's face, and Anakin sighed. His son had the same weakness as himself. He couldn't bear to see anyone close to him in pain. It had been the key in turning him to the darkside.

"We have to help them." Luke said suddenly. Anakin opened his mouth to tell Luke that that would be a foolish idea, but seeing Luke's face made him change his mind. Yes, Luke was definitely his son. Anakin could tell Luke the rationalities of why it would be suicidal to rescue his friends, but when Anakin thought about it, he agreed with Luke. Leia was his daughter, and he wanted to help her. Besides, when did he ever do anything that was considered rational?

He sighed.

"This is going to be suicidal. You're barely in tune to the Force to help a great deal..." Anakin began, Luke's face fell, "but it's not impossible to do." Luke smiled. Anakin did a double take, and shook his head. Luke had Shmi's smile. Anakin closed his eyes, and tried not to think of his mother.

"So what are we going to do?" Luke wondered.

"The Emperor has them. That means that they are here on a Star Destroyer at the very least. The Emperor has a fondness for technological terrors. Possibly his new toy called a Super-Star Destroyer. There are heavy security defenses inside that Super-Star Destroyer; a thousand or more TIE pilots are probably fueled and ready to attack; thousands of storm-troopers are armed and inside patrolling the corridors. The Emperor himself is there. How else do you think we're going to get into a ship like that? We're going to go in very quietly. I think that Jallishka and Opregash will be able to help us with that." Anakin turned to the two Noghri. Upon hearing their names, they walked over to him.

"What do you need us to do?" Jallishka asked anxiously.

"Produce bait." He turned to look at Luke. Luke raised his eyebrows. "We'll also have to use Leia. As far as I know Palpatine doesn't know that she is my daughter. We can use that to our advantage, if you can get her to cooperate with us." Anakin directed these last words to Luke.

"I think I know where you're going with this, and I don't think I like it very much." Luke said, frowning at his father.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Anakin countered.

"No." Luke admitted.

"Here's the plan..."

* * *

As soon as the Falcon was pulled into the hanger bay by the tractor beam, they dragged Nekem's drugged body from his "room" on the Falcon and placed him in the cockpit. They took a spare blaster and set the switch at a little before the midpoint between stun and blast. It would look as though Nekem had tried to commit suicide but hadn't turned the switch enough to finish the job.

"Do you think this'll work?" Leia asked Han.

"Sure it will. We just hide in the compartments like we did when they caught us on the Death Star, rig the log to make it look like Nekem killed us all, dumped our bodies in space, and took the ship. It's not like we have to get rid of any central power thing or whatever it was Kenobi got rid of on the Death Star. We just wait till they begin the scanning process of the ship, blast some stormtroopers, and off we fly. Don't underestimate my ability." Han said, a smug smile on his face.

They hid in the compartments and waited.

The Emperor smiled as he looked at the Falcon. Admiral Zephery looked away from his despot ruler in utter fear, hoping that the horrific smile on his face was not directed at himself as the Emperor spoke to him.

"How nice of this group to drop by. If I am not mistaken, they are Skywalker's friends. He and his father will be dropping by right on schedule. If the ship's captain pulls the same maneuver he was reported to have done on the Death Star, then they should be hiding somewhere on the ship. The report was sketchy as to where exactly they were hidden."

"I am somewhat familiar with those reports. We had the Death Star's tapes as we tried to identify who was responsible for destroying it." Admiral Zephery thought back to when he had delivered that message to the Darth Vader himself. Questions whirled in his mind.

"What do you wish to ask me?" The Emperor implored.

"Have there been any more results in the explosion that killed Lord Vader?" Admiral Zephery asked bravely. The Emperor laughed, a high and cruel pitch, but reclined from answering the question which left the Admiral feeling even more unnerved than before.

"Stun the prisoners." The Emperor ordered and left. A group of storm-troopers stood, looking after the Emperor.

"You heard him!" Zephery shouted, "Get to work!" The gaping stormtroopers hurried to do their job.

* * *

Leia awoke in a detention block, lying on a flat, hard, and very cold metal object that the Empire had claimed as a bed. The last thing that she remembered was the latch to the hidden compartment she had been hiding in opening.

She was going to kill Han when she saw him again...if she saw him again.

'Leia?' Leia jumped when she heard her voice. It sounded like Luke...but it didn't quite sound like someone was talking.

"Luke?" She asked.

'Leia? Can you hear me?' Luke's voice asked again.

"Yes, can you hear me?" Leia asked out loud.

'Leia?' He sounded more panicked now. How could she communicate with him?

*Concentrate.*

"Oh wonderful," she muttered out loud, "As if hearing one voice wasn't enough!" She sighed and decided to give it a shot.

'Luke?'

'Leia! Are you alright?' Luke asked.

'For the moment. What about you? Are you alright?'

'We're fine, and we have a plan.'

'We?' Leia sound wary. 'You're with him, aren't you? He's the one behind all of this!' She said, thoroughly panicked.

'Just hear me out, please.' Leia listened to the plea in her twin brother's voice and sighed.

'I suppose it couldn't hurt.' She sighed after a few moments of thought.

'Here's the deal...'

**Next part...Skywalkers to the Rescue**


	20. Chapter 20: Skywalkers to the Rescue

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 20: Skywalkers to the Rescue**

General Nekem slumped dead to the floor as the Emperor's blue lightning faded back into the Force.

"Pity, of course." The Emperor softly chuckled maniacally to himself. "How are those pathetic band of Rebels supposed to find out any information from you now? Too bad your usefulness ran out. Tut, tut." Palpatine motioned for one of his red guards to come and take the body from his throne room.

The Emperor felt uneasy as he looked out among the stars from the giant window opposite his throne. His apprentice was up to something, and the Force had closed itself off to him. The light side blocked his hold on the Force. It cleansed the anger and hatred that he needed to manipulate the Force.

'I am waiting for you, my apprentice. You have not detached yourself from me completely. You think that you have gone heroic on me: do not kid yourself. You're a monster. I created you, remember? Do you think they will accept you with open arms in the Rebellion? You will be executed, and your son will go through unimaginable pain trying to save you. Is that what you want? Come back, and I will be lenient with you.'

Anakin heard his former master's voice in his head taunting him. The words were intoxicating, and a part of him wanted to go back to his former ways...the easy path where there was no such thing as pain. Only a cold heart to keep all of those annoying emotions at bay.

Yet a larger part, the stronger part, knew that he could never leave his son or daughter to a fate so horrendous. He looked over at his son who was sleeping peacefully. It had taken them long, strenuous hours to prepare the ship and plan to rescue his daughter and her friends.

Although there was one thing that nagged Anakin in the back of his mind. Palpatine was right about one thing: Luke and Leia would never be able to live a normal life with him around. Anakin looked at Luke and sighed. He had hoped to be able to train Luke in the ways of the Jedi and prepare him for the enormous task he would take on, but he knew now that things never went as planned.

"Jallishka, Opregash" Anakin called. The form of the two Noghri appeared from the shadows.

"Yes Lord Vader." They answered in unison. Anakin dismissed the title.

"If everything is prepared, I am ready for my part of the task." Anakin looked over at Luke. "You are to take care of him, and my daughter once she is rescued."

"Everything is ready, but what about you? Surely you will want to take care of them?" Opregash suggested.

"It is too inconvenient for me to return with them. Do you have any idea what that will do to my children? I cannot force such a thing upon their lives. Leia despises me, and I will only end up hurting Luke more if I stay. It's better if I do not return. Let's leave before he wakes up. I have never been able to handle loss well, nor good-byes." Anakin walked to Luke's sleeping form and dropped a data pad gently in his hand. Luke clutched in reflexively in his sleep.

"I'm sorry Luke. I love you, and your sister." Anakin whispered before abruptly turning and heading to the hangar bay, Jallishka stayed with Luke, but Opresgash followed in his wake. Luke's eyes fluttered opened.

"I'm not going to let you leave without a fight, father." He whispered so quietly that even the trained ears of the Noghri did not see or hear him move.

* * *

Han felt something soft and warm next to him.

"Leia? Come closer princess..." Han muttered in his sleep.

A sharp Wookie paw across his face woke him up. He grunted.

"What's the big idea?" Han snapped at his friend. Chewie roared at him.

"What do you mean I was talking in my sleep? I was not! And where the hell are we?" Han looked around as images started to flash through his mind. "Oh, yeah." Han muttered. Chewie yelled at him.

"Well how was I supposed to know they'd actually learn their lesson and check the compartments?" More Wookie roars. "I know I said trust me-" Chewie put a Wookie paw on Han's mouth as they heard footsteps coming towards the room. They waited until they heard the footsteps pass by and fade away.

"Where's Leia?" Han whispered, realizing she wasn't there.

"And Nekem and the droids?" Han panicked. Chewie answered him.

"Well that's great! If you and I were both unconscious that could mean that anything happened to them. Do you think that they're okay?" Han mumbled, trying his best not to sound like a pirate gone soft. Chewie didn't answer, and Han knew that that meant that he didn't think that they were okay. It made Han's worry increase ten fold.

* * *

Leia sat in her cell, ready to bang her head against the wall. She couldn't believe that she was going to be rescued by Darth Vader. The idea was utterly ludicrous, but Luke had assured her that he was no longer Darth Vader but Anakin Skywalker. Her head jolted up as she heard approaching footsteps. They didn't pass her cell like they had for Han and Chewie's, but rather stopped. The door opened and Leia was anything but thrilled to see three storm-troopers standing there with blasters aimed at her.

"The Emperor wishes to see you." Leia felt fear grip her, but she stood up and walked toward them. She glared at each one of them, an icy glare that hid her true feelings.

Anakin gripped the syringe in his left hand and jammed it into his right arm, making it look like he had been forced to take the drug. He slumped back in the co-pilot's seat as Opregash came in range with the Super-Star Destroyer.

"This is the Death Saber co-captain Reven. Report your Imperial code and explain your business or you shall be fired upon at will."

"This is pilot Yana of the Galaxy's Rim. I'm transmitting my code through 5GT frequency at this time. An insane Imperial was found on Gefoga claiming to be Lord Vader. He was trying to choke people by means of the Force and ranting and raving when nothing happened. Local security captured him and we wish to return him to Imperial custody. He wears insignia of C-Class. We have confiscated his weapon and sedated him." Opregash rattled off their cover story.

Anakin felt the hesitation of the captain. He had to hold himself back from using his Force powers to manipulate the captain's mind or else the Emperor would feel his presence much sooner that he wanted him too.

"Galaxy Rim's clearance accepted. You may land at hangar 38 Level J. An escort will come and relieve you of the man in your charge. It is most likely that he is nothing but an insane thief who needs to be ah...reprimanded...for his blasphemy against the Empire and Lord Vader. As you are aware, Lord Vader was assassinated not long ago. We grieve his loss." Anakin was surprised. The man had actually admired, but obviously feared, him. "You are free to leave once we have him in our custody."

"Thank you sir." Opregash turned off their channel and turned towards Anakin. He sensed that she had a question.

"What is your question Opregash?" Anakin asked. He wished that people would just ask him questions. He did not want to be feared any longer. It wasn't like he was going to choke her to death if she asked him something that he didn't want to hear. He sighed.

Then again, he really couldn't blame anyone for being wary when it came to dealing with him. He had yet to truly prove that his reputation meant nothing to him now. How was he supposed to explain that he had had an immense change of heart over night?

"Are you sure this is wise my lord?" Opregash asked. "You will be sedated for a long period of time and you shall have very little energy." Anakin's eyes already began to droop.

"Too late now." He slurred, the drug already beginning to kick in. Opregash nodded and maneuvered the craft to the designated hangar. "Thank you for your help Opregash. And thank Jallishka as well. I probably won't be seeing you again." He rose from his seat and strategically placed Imperial cuffs on his hands behind his back, despite his sluggish movements.

Anakin walked to the back of the ship to the small room with a lock. He locked himself in and slumped against the wall waiting for the Imperials to come and take him.

"How much longer do we have until Opregash and my father land?" Luke asked Jallishka.

"They should have landed by now. They have already accepted my story that I am a bounty hunter that wishes to collect money on your capture." Jallshika explained. "We will be landing shortly as well."

Luke looked at the data pad his father had given him. He was somewhat afraid to look at the contents inside.

"I heard what my father said to you and Opregash." Luke said suddenly. Jallishka sighed.

"Your father would not be pleased to hear that."

"I wasn't pleased to hear what he had to say!" Luke countered.

"This is not the time or place to speak of it son of Vader." Jallishka warned. Luke nodded. He knew that he needed to focus on his part of their plan. He just wished he knew how to talk to his father before they left the Star Destroyer.

Anakin could dazedly feel the Imperials lifting him from his spot from the ship. By all rights, the amount of sedative that he had injected to his system should have knocked him unconscious, but the Force was with him and it only slowed his reactions. However, he wanted them to think that he was unconscious. They kicked him in the midriff, but he did not move.

"Take this one to the medic wing. Take an analysis of his blood to see what he was shot with and give him the antidote. I want him fully able to answer all of our questions." One of the men ordered.

Anakin was dragged mercilessly to the medic wing. The medics drew blood from his system. He tried to keep a smirk off his face as he mentally pushed the medics to check and see if this raving lunatic might not actually be Lord Vader. He couldn't wait to see their reaction when the test came up positive.

* * *

"Hello Princess Leia." The Emperor hissed. Leia cringed as she heard the voice. She did not respond. Palpatine peered out into space, his back toward her.

"My, my. Where are your manners? Not even saying hello." He taunted. Leia did not take the bait. Palpatine laughed softly, cruelly.

Leia peered around the throne room, not looking directly at what was left of the rotting corpse of the most powerful man in the galaxy, but she didn't turn her back on him either. She was so angry that she forgot to be afraid of him. She forgot to be hurt that her father was Darth Vader. She just wished that the Emperor would die.

"What kind of reputation are you presenting of your precious Rebellion if you hang around with smugglers and scum like General Nekem?" The Emperor finally turned to look at her. His yellow eyes made him look so sickly and old that Leia wondered if her wish would come true and that he would drop dead. Now she knew why they called him the rotting corpse. He really was one. "Leave us." Leia jumped as the storm-troopers holding her let go. She had forgotten their presence completely.

"What are you doing here little Princess?" He demanded. Leia lifted her chin, but she did not answer. "Ah, yes. I remember Lord Vader telling me that you had quite a spirit." Leia flinched at the name: fortunately the Emperor misinterpreted why. "I will only ask you nicely one more time. Now, what are you doing here?" Leia again refused to answer. The Emperor smiled. "I was hoping you would choose the difficult way." He raised his hands and blue lightning crackled around them.

"Your Highness. A shuttle has just landed-" The Red-Guard that had re-entered the room was jolted to the floor with the blue electricity from the Emperor's hands.

"Never interrupt me!" The Emperor hissed. The Red-Guard rose from the ground.

"But your highness, this is very important." The Red-Guard gasped for breath. He looked at Leia.

"Troopers!" The Emperor hissed as the three high-ranking storm-troopers re-entered the room. "Take her back to her cell." The Emperor hissed. The three were quick to follow orders as they led Leia out of the room. The Emperor waited for Leia to be out of range before he continued.

"Now, what is it?" Palpatine demanded.

"We have reason to believe that Lord Vader is alive, and on the ship." The Red-Guard explained. Whatever reaction the guard had expected from the Emperor, anger, suspicion, or disbelief, he hadn't expected his reaction.

"Interesting."

**Next part...You Sure That's Vader?**


	21. Chapter 21: You Sure That's Vader?

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 21: You Sure That's Vader?**

"Now, what makes you suspect that Lord Vader is still alive? I presume you have proof?" Palpatine hissed.

"Yes your highness. A man on the orbiting planet below claimed that he was Lord Vader. The medics are checking his-" The Red Guard screamed in pain as the Emperor electrocuted him with blue lightening.

"You pathetic being. Don't you think I would have felt my old apprentice's presence? You bring me no proof. You need replacing if you will believe anyone who claims that he is Darth Vader." After a few moments the Red Guard's body stopped twitching, and he fell lifeless. "And to think, I dismissed the Princess for this." He looked at the body on the floor, and lost himself to the dark side of the Force. With a start, he felt a glow of the light side, but only for a moment. It was not his apprentice's though. Still, the momentary flicker disturbed him, and he reached out to find it. Even the Emperor had not expected what he found.

Palpatine cackled to himself, "The Princess is Force sensitive."

* * *

Luke crawled through the ventilation system of the Super-Star-Destroyer, so far undetected. He had contacted Leia briefly to tell her that he and their father had arrived, but he had kept it short. His father had told him that if he were to use the Force here, he was to use it fast, and guard it: something that Luke was sure he needed to work on. Luke's eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the ventilation to see well enough, but the air circulating through the vents made it difficult for him to hold the paper steady enough to let his eyes focus on the map. He feared using a glow rod to find which way he was supposed to head, so he trusted in the

Force to guide him to the throne room. By the time he reached a lighted section of the vents he couldn't place himself on the map.

He sighed and checked his chrono. The drugs in his father's system should have worn off by now.

Thinking of his father made him remember the last thing he had heard his father say before he had left.

'"It is too inconvenient for me to return with them. Do you have any idea what that will do to my children? I cannot force such a thing upon their lives. Leia despises me, and I will only end up hurting Luke move if I stay. It's better if I do not return..."'

'Perhaps I should find my father.' Luke thought to himself.

He wasn't sure what his father had planned, but there was an uneasy feeling when Luke thought about what his father might do in order to make sure that Leia and himself would not be harmed. The one thing that he had begun to learn was always go with your gut feeling; it was often the Force trying to give him a better option.

Luke looked down into the room below him. There was no one there, and since he wasn't even sure where he was, he would need to find out. 'But how am I to find out?' Luke mused, 'What can I do? Walk up to someone and ask if they happened to know where the med bay is so I can free my father, who happens to be the ex-Sith Lord Darth Vader so he doesn't do anything stupid before we get to the Throne room and try and kill the Emperor?' Luke had a feeling that just wouldn't work. Either way it didn't really matter. He had to find the Throne room.

Igniting his lightsaber, Luke cut out the securely bolted vent grate and allowed it to clatter to the floor. Luke followed the grate to the floor, only landing more quietly. He waited for his eyes to adjust back to the light before moving to the hallway. It was eerily deserted. He hoped it meant that everyone was at the docking bay: anywhere but where he was. It took him some time before he found a computer terminal.

"Where are you when I need you Artoo?" Luke muttered to himself. He took a deep breath and let calmness overtake him. The Force seemed to buzz around everything when he opened his eyes, but especially on seven keys on the coded locking pad. He let the Force point out their order. The computer read PASSWORD CONFIRMED across the screen. Luke bit his lip as he went through the terminal, finally finding access to his current position. Luke was surprised to see that the med bay was two doors down from him. Blaster bolts and various other noises came from the hallway: the med bay to be exact. Luke smiled, wondering what mischief his father had found himself in.

* * *

Anakin was having the time of his life. The medics were utterly confused and bewildered when the blood test came up as a positive match. He lay silently on the bed like a good sedated patient would have, listening with amusement.

"How can this man be Lord Vader?" A female medic wondered.

"Something must be wrong with the system." Another voice offered. "I mean, look at this guy. Sure, he's a bit larger than normal humans, but analytically speaking it's quite impossible for Vader to have survived. There was too much DNA proof at the scene of the explosion." The medic looked over at him. He gasped when he saw Anakin's eyes open.

"Or it could be that I just happen to be more deceptive than even you perceived." The two medics gaped as the man who should have been fully sedated rose to his feet. "Now, if you don't mind, I have some business I would like to attend to."

The female medic didn't hesitate as she pulled out a blaster and aimed it squarely between Anakin's eyes. Of course, it didn't matter. Anakin may not have had his lightsaber, but he easily deflected the blast with his hand: one of the things that he had learned on his own time.

Unfortunately, a dozen storm-troopers rushed into the room. Without his lightsaber, reflecting bolts would be a lot more difficult. However, the Force was with him, as was his son.

Luke ran into the room, slicing two of the storm-troopers neatly in half with his lightsaber. He somersaulted over the fallen troopers and landed in front of his father.

"Need some help?" Luke offered, grinning.

"I could have handled them." Anakin said, grinning back. Luke's lightsaber was a blur of blue light as he reflected the blaster bolts.

"I'm a little too new at this." Luke admitted, as the wayward blaster bolt got passed the lightsaber. Anakin nodded, understanding what his son meant. Luke tossed his ignited lightsaber to his father who caught it easily. Anakin felt the familiar hilt of his old saber in his hands, flooding his mind with hundreds of memories. Anakin snapped out of it, reflecting the bolts with much better accuracy than Luke had. It took him little time to clear the room of storm-troopers. Anakin tossed the lightsaber back to his son.

"Thanks for the help, but now we need to split up." Anakin explained, his legs taking long strides so that Luke practically had to run to keep up with him. "The detention center with your sister and your friends is that-" Luke grabbed a hold of Anakin's arm, cutting him off it mid-sentence.

"I'm going with you." Luke said. Anakin looked at him, surprised.

"Luke, that wasn't the plan. Listen, we don't have much time. Palpatine's up to something. I don't think he knows that I'm here, but-"

"Why aren't you coming back with us?" Realization flickered across Anakin's features. "I read the data pad that you gave me about some bullshit story of having to clear up some things and not being able to come back right away, but I heard you talking to Jallishka and Opregash. You don't mean to return ever."

"Luke this is not the time for this." Anakin said in his frustration. Luke obviously didn't understand the risks of him joining the rebellion.

"This is the only time for it!" Luke hissed. Anakin looked at Luke, and almost laughed. His face was set into a determined resolve, and he looked exactly like Padmé had on so many occasions.

Anakin looked around the hallway that they were in and realized that this was not a convenient location to discuss this, nor would Luke drop the subject.

"Fine. We're going to get your sister and your friends, and we'll discuss things on the way." Luke sighed in resignation. He knew his father was right: time was running out.

"What exactly are you planning?" Luke asked as Anakin began to lead the way to the detention center. They jogged alongside each other, going about their business as though it wasn't unusual to be breaking into a Super-Star-Destroyer.

"Luke, for nearly twenty years now, my life has been devoted to doing nothing but serving the dark side. It's a mystery that I even came back to the light side of the Force. In fact, it's just unheard of. I've killed millions upon millions-" Anakin's voice cracked for a minute, and Luke looked over at his father. He had a haunted look in his eyes. If Luke had any doubts about his father's sincerity about renouncing his old ways, this was enough to squash them. "I'm better off not being around. I'll leave, and go somewhere I can no longer hurt anyone." Anakin explained, masking any and all emotions from his face. Luke frowned.

"And where is that?" Luke believed he knew, but hoped that he was wrong.

"A planet beyond the Outer Rim." Anakin lied, and Luke knew it. Anakin looked over at his son, and saw that his son saw right through the lie.

"You're planning to kill yourself." Luke stated bluntly, anger and betrayal playing across his features. Anakin stopped in his tracks, and Luke skidded to a halt next to him.

"You need to release your anger. That is one thing that you must learn to do. Let it flow through you, and flow out of you." Anakin instructed, moving on again. Luke ignored the advice, and instead became even angrier. His father was being a hypocrite.

"Are you just going to abandon Leia and me?" Luke demanded in his defiance. "Take the easy way out?"

"Do you think this is easy for me?" Anakin snapped. "All my life since I can remember, the only thing I have ever dreamed of, the one thing that kept me going at times, was the dream of having a family. But I've ruined the chance. Leia hates me, and I will just screw up your life by staying around. Do you think the Rebellion will welcome me with open arms? Do you think that they won't keep you and Leia under lock and key afraid that you'll become like me? I can't put you through that. Don't ask me to."

"Leia doesn't hate you." Luke insisted wildly, knowing he was losing the argument. Anakin glanced over at his son.

"You are so naive young one." Anakin murmured more to himself than to Luke. The rest of their way to the detention center was traveled in silence. They stopped outside the detention cell door.

"Something's wrong." Anakin said, stiffening immediately.

"Your sister's not here." Anakin reached out to the Force, finding his daughter's presence close to the Emperor's. "He has her." Anakin breathed.

"What?" Luke asked, confused.

"Palpatine knows that Leia is Force sensitive." Anakin set his face in grim determination. "Let's get your friends out of their cell. Then I am going after Leia. You and your friends will leave on your craft once Leia reaches you. I will hold anyone off I can-"

"-as long as you don't die first." Luke muttered. "You can't handle your master on your own." Luke said firmly.

"I will make sure no harm comes to Leia." Anakin insisted.

"You need my help." Luke argued. Anakin looked at Luke and knew that his desire to protect his son was being squashed by the reality of the situation. He did need his son's help: at least to save Leia.

"You act like I did at your age. Now I think I understand why Obi-Wan was so frustrated with me at times." Anakin muttered, and he grinned. Luke felt relieved. He had won this brief argument, and he hoped that it wouldn't be the last.

"Let's get your friends." Anakin decided as he Luke handed him his lightsaber again.

"You're on." They punched the open mechanism on the door and hurried in. The guards were caught so off guard that the battle didn't last more than ten seconds, lightsaber deflecting bolts all the while.

'This feels like déja vu.' Luke thought to himself as he went to check what cells Chewie and Han were in. Luke was surprised to see that they were in the same one, but didn't dwell on the fact as he went to check the cell. He keyed the lock open, and was greeted by a somewhat comical site.

Chewie and Han had been bored for some time, so they had tried to dismantle the ceiling light. The room was shrouded in darkness, and Han was sitting on Chewie's shoulders as he tried to find a way out of the cell.

"You guys coming or what?" Luke smirked at seeing their astonished faces to see him-alive.

"Am I glad to see you, kid!" Han said as Chewie slipped him off his shoulders. Chewie grabbed Luke in a furry hug.

"Come on. We gotta get outta here." Luke explained, shrugging of the Wookie's death grip.

"We need to exit out of the other side of the detention block to get to Leia quickly." Anakin said, coming up to meet Luke and his friends.

"Who's this guy?" Han asked puzzled.

"This is my father, Anakin Skywalker. Dad," and Luke was pleased to see his father smile subtly as he called him that, "Dad, this is Han Solo, and Chewbacca." Anakin nodded. Chewie and Han just stared.

"Uh-I thought your father was Darth Vader." Han asked confused. "Are you telling me you decided that he wasn't, but this guy is?"

"No. I used to be Darth Vader. I hate to be rude, but we need to get to Leia, and fast." Anakin's long strides led him passed the three guys standing in front of the open cell.

"Okay, I think that you're mental." Han stated matter-of-factly. "For one, there's no way in hell you're Darth Vader, and two," Han pointed out, "there's no door to get out that way." He was right, of course. There was just a solid wall at the end of the corridor.

"Walls don't mean anything against a lightsaber." Anakin ignited Luke's - or was it his? - lightsaber and cut easily through the wall.

"I'll explain later." Luke promised as he followed his father though the cut doorway with Han and Chewie following him.

"You better." Han said, and felt that things were going to get very interesting.

**Next part...Confrontation**


	22. Chapter 22: Confrontation

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 22: Confrontation**

"What's really going on here, kid?" Han whispered to Luke as they followed Anakin to the throne room. "You can't really expect me to believe that this guy used to be Darth Vader, and I can't believe that you would take this time to pull a practical joke on me, so what's the deal?" Luke sighed. He had a feeling something like this was going to happen. At least they found it unbelievable that his father was Darth Vader. That would help to sway his father not to do anything stupid, he hoped.

"I'm serious." Luke muttered back. "He turned back to the lightside of the Force." Han shook his head.

"Lightside? What the hell are you talking about?" Han grumbled. "And where's Leia?" He asked defiantly. Luke took a sidelong glance at his friend as they rounded a corner. 'There's something going on between the two of them.' Luke thought to himself. Not that it surprised him any.

"The Emperor has her." Anakin said worried, cutting in on their conversation.

"How do you know?" Han wondered.

"Her presence in the Force is mired by the Emperor's. He cannot completely block out her light from me, but it is not as strong as it normally is. I don't know why I couldn't sense how strongly the Force was with her before." Anakin said the last part to himself.

"It's not as strong? Do you think that he's hurting her?" Luke asked worried. Anakin shook his head.

"I don't know. I'm trying my best not to think about it." Anakin looked straight ahead as his long striding steps left Han and Luke at an almost running pace to keep up with him. Chewie followed in silence.

Han was utterly confused. He didn't understand Luke's reasoning. After watching Luke and - what was his name, Anakin? - for some time anyone could see that they were related. The way they looked, the way they held themselves, and even their accents were pretty much the same. But Han also didn't believe that this guy was Vader, no matter what either of them said. He was wondering if the whole thing with Jallishka calling Darth Vader their "father" had not been some sort of code language that Luke and Leia had figured out before hand. He felt out of the loop.

The weird thing was, Han felt as though he could trust this Anakin person. Luke obviously did, and Anakin's concern for Leia made him a good person in Han's eyes. There was also a natural air about Anakin that made him seem so easy to trust.

Chewie looked back and forth between Anakin and Luke. There was no doubt in his mind that Luke was Anakin's cub, as for the fact that they both claimed him to be Darth Vader...he didn't know what to believe, and since Luke did not seem bothered by Anakin, Chewie would keep his desire to rip Anakin's arms off at bay.

Luke looked over at Han and Chewie. Han was confused, that much was obvious, but he had no idea how Chewie felt. Chewie had been a slave underneath the Empire and, as far as Luke knew, hated Darth Vader. He glanced at his father, wishing that he could spend several minutes just to talk to him.

Anakin ignored Han's confusion, Chewie's aggressive feelings, and Luke's worry, and concentrated on locating Leia.

* * *

The Emperor watched as the princess enter his throne room for the second time that day, escorted by different guards.

"Ah...your highness, so good to see you again." He gave emphasis to "your highness", making it sound less than a welcoming greeting. Leia felt chills go down her spine as she heard his voice.

The guards left again.

"Why do you keep bringing me here?" Leia demanded, trying to hide the fear from her voice. She stood straighter, making herself at least look less intimidated. Leia did her best to glare at him with all of her anger behind it.

The Emperor was not fooled by her façade. It amused him to watch her struggle to keep her composure. His thick, pale wrinkles scrunched up into a wicked smile, if one could even call it a smile.

He purposefully ignored her demand and studied the woman in front of him. She was not even twenty yet, and for an unpleasant moment, he remembered another girl-woman like her who had caused him much trouble with her cool head, quick thinking, and dedication. However, the thing that intrigued him most was the strong hatred boiling from her. The darkside swirled around him as he relished in the dark energies she gave off.

Vader had turned back to the lightside, and turning Luke would now be increasingly difficult without the help of his former apprentice. Yet here was raw Force potential. Someone with deep hate, anger, and fear. Perhaps things would work out after all.

"You should consider yourself a galaxy rarity now. After all, there are no longer many living Alderaaneans since the destruction of Alderaan." The Emperor took pleasure in seeing Leia's face contort with a mixture of hurt and fury.

"If it weren't for you and your tactless...!" The Emperor allowed Leia to rant for some time, her anger boiling. What no one knew about the darkside except those who had fully turned, was that its intoxicating power enticed even the most pure of heart. They could feel the power of it, and they could feel that if they took that power, they could use it to do good. However, what they did not know was that it always corrupted, not matter who used it.

"I have a proposition for you." The Emperor interjected, a menacing tone in his voice for Leia to quiet down. She did so immediately in fear. The power he could offer her would interest her. That same power would also corrupt her to be his puppet, just like all his followers before just like-

"My old apprentice. How nice it is to see you again." Palpatine said oily. The Emperor cursed himself inwardly. While his thoughts occupied him, Anakin had entered the room, followed by his son, and two others that he assumed to be companions of young Skywalker's and the Princess's. He fleetingly wondered what had happened to his Red Guards, but he assumed that his old apprentice would have had no trouble taking care of them.

Leia wheeled around to look at her group of rescuers. She gaped at her father for a moment. It had to be him. Luke looked just like him, it was frightening.

Literally in a flash of lightening, the Emperor used his dark-side lightening to cripple Leia to the floor. He poured all of his hatred into it so that the lightning was burning her skin. She let out a piercing scream of pain. It had the desired effect he had hoped it would have on both father and son. They ran towards the despot with burning hatred, in an attempt to kill him. However, despite Luke's improved speed, and Anakin's mastered Force skills, it was Chewie that got to the Emperor first.

It took everyone by surprised, but none more so than the Emperor himself. Chewie locked his arms around Palpatine's neck, efficiently shutting off all of the man's oxygen. Unfortunately, mere strength was no match for the darkside of the Force, as the Emperor's lightning only momentarily faltered, switching its focus from one victim to the other. In that instance, Luke had felt the hatred in his father, the hatred that still burned in his father.

Luke put a hand on Anakin ever so gently, then it actually made Anakin jump and turn to look at his son. No more than a second must have passed between the two.

Anakin looked at his son.

Luke looked at his father.

Reading one another's minds in a single glance. Anakin could not deliver the killing blow to kill his old master in fear of turning back to the darkside. Luke could not kill the Emperor on his own.

Anakin, swallowing the desire to kill Palpatine, quickly passed Luke's lightsaber back to him. As Luke jumped towards the Emperor with his lightsaber glowing brilliantly, the Emperor once again redirected the lightening towards a new victim. However, Anakin was ready. He used the Force to redirect the lightning back at Palpatine, as Luke in a fluid movement, slashed down, neatly slicing the Emperor in half.

A dark energy seemed to fill the room with the Emperor's death. Even Han and Chewie, non-Force sensitives could feel it. Luke stood, stunned. He didn't know exactly what he had just done. He had killed the Emperor. Of all people, HE had killed him. It stunned him. His vision darkened as he could feel the darkside surround him. It consumed him, and he fell to the floor unconscious.

"Luke!" Anakin ran to his son's side. He didn't know what to do. Images of his life ran through his mind. He saw his mother, dying in his arms. He saw the friends he tried to help escape from slavery on Tatooine. He saw the disappointment from Obi-Wan. He felt the hurt from his fellow Jedi at his betrayal. He felt the loss when he had left Padmé. Anakin felt so much, that his vision swam. He shook his head. No more failures. There was no way he could bare to lose anyone again. He knew now more than ever that he needed to get away from his son and daughter, at least, after he knew that they were safe. It was his fault. Somehow, he knew it had to be his fault that everyone close to him ended up in desperate pain and suffering.

Right now was not the time to think of such things. "Luke, wake up!" He yelled. As if on cue, Luke's eyes fluttered open. Han was already checking on Leia who laid nearby, who was coming to as well.

"You're okay." Anakin helped Luke to his feet. Luke went over to help Chewie, as Anakin checked up on Leia.

"She's rousing, but she seems disoriented." Han said.

"Yes, so I see." Anakin said upon seeing Leia wake.

"Chewie's still out cold." Luke said loudly from his kneeling position near Chewie. Luke could not bear to bring himself to look at the Emperor. "But his pulse is steady."

"What're we going to do?" Leia asked, her eyes darting around, finally resting on Anakin. "Who're you?" She wondered her focus going sharp as she remembered her fist instinct that this man was her father.

"Anakin Skywalker." He said softly, looking at her. Leia opened her mouth, shock and disbelief in her face.

"We need to get out of here, fast!" Han yelled as a troop of stormtroopers stormed in.

"Right, let's go!"

**Next part...Escape**


	23. Chapter 23: Escape

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 23: Escape**

Everything seemed to happen in a whirl of motion as a wave of stormtroopers rushed into the Throne Room. There wasn't much distance between the group of rescuers and the troops, but Anakin used the Force to tear the ceiling down on top of some of the stormtroopers, and cut off the attack from the other side. The room above the Throne Room must have been a storage unit because boxes fell through the floor. Blaster fire still managed to get through the holes, even if the stormtroopers themselves couldn't. Anakin and Luke rushed over to Chewie's side, and Luke once again tossed his lightsaber to his father. Luke tried to pull Chewie up, but with Anakin using the lightsaber to deflect blaster fire, it made it difficult to do much by himself. Meanwhile, Han was helping Leia to her feet.

"I'm alright," Leia muttered. "At least physically. We need to help," she couldn't seem to come up with the right words to describe her brother and father, so she settled with something less formal, "them get Chewie out of here." Han nodded.

"Aren't there any other weapons besides that lightsaber?" Both Han and Leia did their best to duck behind the fallen boxes to avoid the blaster fire.

"Maybe these storage boxes have some inside," Leia suggested.

"Well unless you want to risk getting your head fired at while you spend precious time looking through each and every one, go for it, because I'm not going to look through them," Han grumbled.

"I thought you were supposed to be the tough macho male," Leia grinned as Han shot her an evil look. They reached Chewie and helped Luke move him towards the closest wall.

"How're we supposed to get out of here?" Leia asked, now shouting through the increased blaster fire. Leia guessed that more stormtroopers must have arrived because the blaster fire increased, and there seemed to be some progress with them clearing the rubble out of the way.

"I feel like this is getting redundant, but solid walls mean nothing to lightsabers," Anakin said, "Unless, of course, there's nothing but a vacuum of space on the other side," Anakin added, as he began to switch back and forth between cutting through the wall and deflecting blaster fire.

Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie all huddled behind a crate as they watched in awe as Anakin worked the lightsaber in a graceful and fluid motion. Chewie moaned as he began to come to.

"You alright pal?" Chewie groaned something that sounded sarcastic to Leia, who was starting to pick up on what Chewie said.

"Nah, of course I wasn't worried about you. I just didn't want the Princess and Luke here to have to haul you all the way through this place," Han explained. Chewie roared something else.

"Of course I could handle it! My back wouldn't give out! I am not that old," Han defended himself.

"Come on. Let's get out of here," Anakin shouted as the piece of metal wall clanged to the floor. The group rushed out as Anakin continued to deflect the blaster fire. Luke glanced behind him, making sure that his father would follow. He did.

The group made their way to the main hangar where stormtroopers patrolled constantly, now aware of the possible threat from inside.

However, they had not detected the ship docked closely near the exhaust port. Luke and Jallishka had managed to land there without detection thanks to Jallishka's extraordinary knowledge of discretion, as well as Luke's own ability to maneuver a spaceship.

"We have to cross the main hangar to get access to the exhaust port's attachment chamber," Luke explained to the group as they all clumped together in a supply closet. Luke took note of the strained expressions on his sister and father's faces. Anakin kept taking side glances at his daughter, and she was pointedly ignoring him.

"There are an increased number of stormtroopers guarding the hangar. More than we had anticipated. We need to devise a plan to get us all out without detection," Luke said, taking on an authoritative tone that the group had never heard him use.

Anakin stopped taking glances at Leia, and looked at Luke. A heaviness had settled over his son, and Leia was deliberately ignoring him. Anakin's emotions were drained, and he felt so old. However, his son was too young to be acting as old as Anakin felt. His son's youth had been taken from. He winced, realizing he had been responsible for the way he had turned out. A sudden realization hit him.

Leia had mirrored her mother's footsteps without her mother's help, and Luke had become exactly like Anakin without having been taught to behave like him. It was like looking into the past. Leia had become her mother, and Luke had become like him. Padmé had found it in her heart to love who he was, no matter what. Therefore, was there a slight possibility for Leia to do the same?

In the overcrowded space, Anakin stretched slightly, rolling his neck in order to free some of the cramps he was getting. His eyes rested upon the lighting unit above them. A sudden idea hit Anakin.

"Question for you guys. How many stormtroopers does it take to screw in a light-bulb?"

* * *

"This is not a bright idea," Han muttered underneath his breath.

"That wasn't funny," Leia retorted, as they all shuffled through the electrical wiring unit. There were many sections to the wiring unit.

Each one had a series of almost twenty tubes running through its middle, but it made for restricted head space, not to mention it was difficult to walk through. The area was only dimly lighted, and things stuck out at strange angles from the wall and the floor. Still, there was enough room for the humans to stand up in. Chewie had to crouch.

Anakin led the way through the wires. He had remembered the initial plan that Kuat Drive Yards had issued when designing the Super Star Destroyer. There had been some controversy as to the wiring unit used. It would harness a greater amount of power than the normal Star Destroyers, but at the same time would be three times as likely to catch fire as the old wiring. In order to compensate for this problem, a unit large enough to walk in was put in to help control any fires that might possibly occur. He himself had proposed the idea of larger holding units for the wiring. Each wire had a heavy strip of rubber wrapped securely around it, as well as encases in plastic tubes. The unit itself was large enough for a maintenance worker or droid to stand up in so that if a problem were to occur, it would be easier for someone to find it.

Not to mention every hundred meters was a lock down system that enabled each section to close thick, fireproof doors so that a fire could be isolated and extinguished. Chewie groaned. Anakin, fluent in several languages, picked up on the annoyance immediately.

"No, I'm sorry. It wasn't even meant to be designed for tall humans, let alone Wookies," Anakin, who also had to hunch slightly, replied to Chewie's comment.

"Like you care," Leia shot back. Anakin looked back at his daughter, looked her in the eye, and turned away. Leia saw how hurt he seemed, and she cursed herself. She was starting to feel guilty for treating him so badly. Then she remembered the pain that he had caused her, and it was easy for her to hate him again.

"So what're we going to do to get out of here?" Luke wondered, trying to break some of the tension.

"Throw light bulbs at the stormtroopers," Anakin replied calmly. Han's mouth dropped.

"That's your great plan?" He asked incredulously.

"You're trying to kill us, right?" Leia added in.

"No, I'm serious. Stormtroopers have very little view range with those stupid helmets, and even less mobility to look left to right, let alone up. It'll cause great confusion at first. That's one of the problems stormtroopers have in battle. The second problem is, is that they don't have great accuracy in shooting. Not for lack of trying, but once again, those helmets are a nuisance when it comes to vision – at least when you use the Force to misdirect their aim," Anakin explained with a grin. "Though I'm sure you already knew that." They walked through another section of the wiring unit before Anakin stopped.

"They're right below us," Luke said, able to feel the presence of such a concentrated group of stormtroopers. "It's easier to feel their Force presence because there're so many of them." Anakin nodded. He put his hands on one of the tubes.

"To be more specific, we're going to drop these tubes on them, as well as the lights that run right beneath our feet," Anakin motioned for them to get as far up against the wall as possible. Everyone found something to hold unto. With one hand holding some sort of mechanical mechanism, Anakin threw the lightsaber at the wiring. Sparks shot from the wires and the dim lights above them went out. Anakin heard his lightsaber clatter to the floor. He used the Force to bring it to his grasp again.

"I'm not sure how many times I'm going to have to cut through the wires like this in order for it to fall. It'd be much easier if I could just cut through it, but I don't really want the current to arc to be shocked to death either," Anakin explained as he threw his lightsaber at the wires again. Though it had crossed his mind to do just that. A Jedi was taught to accept his death when it came, but to go looking for it in anyway was never a good idea. Still, it would be an effortless way for him to solve his children's problems.

On the fourth time Anakin let his lightsaber fly, the wires finally all fell, their weight causing the floor directly beneath them to collapse. The floor that Anakin, Chewie, Luke, and Han were on stayed put, but the floor underneath Leia gave way.

"No!" The men cried in unison as Leia fell to the floor that was littered with debris and stormtroopers below.

**Next part...Regrets and Accusations**


	24. Chapter 24: Regrets and Accusations

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 24: Regrets and Accusations**

"No!" The men cried in unison as Leia fell to the floor that was littered with debris and stormtroopers below. Anakin was the closest to Leia. He flung out his arm, missing her hand by centimeters. In his panic, he almost forgot that he had access to the Force. Grasping her with the Force, he willed it to slow her descent and let her land gently below to a part of the floor that was not near any electrical wires. Timed seem to slow as Anakin allowed everything to register.

Anakin let out a worried breath, and he could see the shock on Leia's face to have put him through so much worry. In theory, the fall was not too far, and she might not have been hurt too badly: as long as she hadn't fallen at a strange angle. However, it did pose some problems as to how he was supposed to get Luke, Han, and Chewie down. He figured that Luke would be able to make the jump. Any second year Temple student in his day would have been able to make it easily, and his son seemed to have a strong enough connection to the Force that it would not be a problem. Cheiwe and Han would have more difficulty getting down.

Some of the stormtroopers seemed stunned at the ceiling's collapse, and the rest of them (about three quarters) were littered underneath the debris. Few had begun to help their fellow troopers from underneath the ruble and several others had tried to fire at the group in the newly made hole in the ceiling. They gave up after finding out it only caused more sparks than desirable to fall. It only took a few seconds for Anakin to take all of this in before he smoothly jumped down to the ground and landed not far from Leia. Luke followed. His landing was clumsy, but he had managed to stay on his feet.

"I can lower you with the Force, but we need to do it quickly," Anakin said, yelling above the noise. He couldn't see the stormtroopers from his placement on the ground, and hoped that meant they couldn't see him either. Chewie growled something in the negative. Han was not happy at what his friend was saying.

"Oh no!" Han tried to protest, but it was too late. Anakin had forgotten that Wookies lived in tall trees and were excellent jumpers.

In one swift movement, Chewie picked Han up over his shoulder, and landed gracefully on the ground.

"Put me down!" Han grumbled, his legs and arms flailing. Chewie complied as Han was dropped roughly to his feet.

"Where to now?" Leia asked Anakin. He looked at her a moment, realizing that she had actually addressed him. It was as though she actually trusted him. Anakin's surprise flickered over his face for only a shadow of a moment, and it was gone just as quickly. However, not before Leia had seen it. Anakin smiled slightly.

"There's the exhaust port's attachment chamber." Luke pointed to where they had previously determined to meet Jallishka.

"Let's go!" Han said, tired of feeling left out of the family unit. They rushed towards the chamber. Jallishka was waiting nearby.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked. Jallishka had promised to stay in the ship unless he thought that there would be trouble.

"There was a loud explosion...I became concerned," Jallishka said offhandedly. In a swift glance, the group took in the surrounding area around Jallishka. There were explosives everywhere.

"How many of these did you set?" Anakin asked.

"There are actually only three explosives in here, plus thirty fakes," Jallishka explained.

"In here...?" Anakin frowned. Jallishka shifted his feet.

"I know you did not ask it of me, my lord, but you did not seem to be under the impression that the TIE fighters would not come after us. I set several explosives in their docking bays. They should be going off shortly," Jallishka confessed.

"Then let's get out of here," Anakin said, taking the lead, eyeing the explosives warily.

No sooner had the group had settled in the cockpit that a fleet of TIE fighters exited the hangar. Just then, the explosives that Jallishka had set detonated. The explosives crippled the ship, and the blast from the Super Star Destroyer itself engulfed most of the TIEs, leaving one or two stray fighters to hover uncertainly in space, their circuitry fried from the nearby explosion.

"No wonder the Empire is so good at doing things like that. They have the Noghri on their side," Leia said, her voice a mixture of anger and sorrow. Her gazed turned away from the incredible blast that kept shrinking away in the distance, finally fixing it on her father. She held her gaze high despite the tears that had begun to form in the corner of her eyes.

Anakin had momentarily believed back in the Super Star Destroyer that Leia might be like her mother and be able to see past his faults and stupidity. That hope flickered and died with the way she looked at him now. Luke, the ever peacemaker of the group, decided to step in.

"We should all get some sle-" Luke began, but Leia and Anakin both held up a hand to silence him. It did not go unnoticed that they both used the same posture and gesture in doing so. Leia felt very self-conscious for having any similarities with her sire.

"We need to talk. Excuse us," Anakin's voice was soft and gentle, understanding and sad all at once. Anakin led the way from the cockpit to one of the sleeping quarters.

Luke, Han, and Chewie all stared after them. Han turned his head towards Luke.

"What is going on? Is he really Vader?" Han asked hesitantly. "I know the Emperor called him his apprentice, and you keep telling me that he is Vader, or used to be, but this is not making any sense. Lord Vader is a man turned machine whose purpose in life is to inflict misery on others around him." Luke sighed. Jallishka turned a deaf ear to the conversation at hand.

"I don't quite get it either, but here's what I know. Vader was tricked by the Emperor into believing a lot of lies. From what I gathered from what my father told me, he used to be very trusting of others. When he was younger, Palpatine had always watched over everything he did, and would on occasion put ideas into his head. The Jedi at one point and time actually trusted, at least to a certain degree, Palpatine's judgments and actions. My father's biggest problem was that he was not raised by the Jedi from birth. Apparently he did not begin his training until he was nine. At this time, he had already learned and seen other things in the galaxy that made him realize how much evil that there was.

"He had also always seen himself as being with a family. Jedi were forbidden families. It did not stop my parents from marrying. When the Jedi Order found out about it, there was a falling out, and Palpatine was there to support my father. Palpatine brainwashed him into thinking there was no such thing as good and evil, only weakness and power. My father thought that if he had power, he could help people. Instead, Palpatine succeeded in turning him to the darkside. There were a lot of other things that went on that he did not have time to tell me. I know he's upset about what he's done. He wants to put things right, but I'm not quite sure I want him to do what I think he's going to do." Luke pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. Chewie growled.

"What do you mean?" Han translated.

"He doesn't want Leia or I to have to deal with going through a trial and what not. Inevitably he'll be executed. Why put us through that pain? Everyone would know we were his children, and no matter what we would do, some people would always see us as threats."

"So in other words, he wants to run." Han supplied.

"No." Luke's voice was very somber. Han's eyes widened.

"You don't mean he wants to-" Han's sentence was interrupted by blaster fire from the other room. They ran from the cockpit to where Leia and Anakin had been conversing. They took in the scene in one, swift glance.

"What have you done?" Luke asked mortified.

* * *

Leia and Anakin entered the sleeping quarters in silence. Anakin closed the door, and saw Leia stiffen. Anakin realized he had once locked her in a room with him in order to torture her, and he felt foolish and angry at himself for his stupidity, then and now. His faced flushed red momentarily.

"Sorry," He murmured, re-opening the door. "I wasn't thinking." He wished he knew what else to say. Any words seemed so minimal compared to what he had done. The hurt of all those he had hurt came rushing back at him now. He made up his mind. He knew what he had to do.

"Who are you?" Leia demanded. "What do you want from us?" Before Anakin had a time to explain, Leia began on a rant. "I'm not an idiot. I know the reason Vader had to wear a respirator was that his lungs were burned, and he wore a suit because he was scared beyond recognition. I know Vader cannot live without his suit. Vader would not try and help us. He wants to kill the Rebellion. Who are you really?" Leia was yelling at this point.

"I was Vader. I am Anakin Skywalker. Your biological father. I am your prisoner of war," He stated, all emotion draining from his voice. Leia took a step back. This was not what she had expected. It was like her anger had actually affected him. Hurt him even. Leia shook her head. No, Luke was wrong. This man was not Vader. Perhaps he was just mentally disturbed. Yes, of course! The Emperor constantly took innocent men and haunted them with false lies until they believed what he told them, she thought wildly.

Some of the Rebellion's troops had had the same thing happen to them. There must be a reason behind all this that she didn't see. Leia took on a gentler tone.

"You really believe what you say don't you? I'm sorry I didn't think of it before. You are a victim of the Empire. They take good men and do bad things to them. You want to help, and I believe that there is sincerity in what you do. I'm sure you must be confused. You don't seem like the kind of man who would lie. There are medical treatments that will help you figure out who you-"

"No," Anakin took a step towards Leia, closing the distance between them. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"Don't do this to yourself. Don't make excuses for me. I don't know what to say for what I did. I can't justify it. I shouldn't justify it. For whatever good that it will do, I want you to know that I'm sorry." Leia wanted to yell at him. Hurt him. Shoot him. Hug him. She didn't know quite which she wanted to do first. Instead, she did something that she didn't want to do. Something she had hoped no one would see her do. She cried.

"I have done horrible things to you and those you love." Anakin pulled a blaster from his vest. "You should be the one to do this. You can say I attacked you, and it was self defense. Whatever you like. You'll be a hero. And honestly, I'd rather it be you." Anakin smiled sadly at his daughter. She just stared at him dumbly as he put the blaster in her hand, and wrapped her fingers around the trigger.

'This is a trick.' She thought wildly. But she wasn't so sure. Anakin had closed his eyes, waiting for her to shoot. 'He's psychotic!' Leia fingered the blaster in her hand, playing with the dials in her moment of indecision.

Did she really want to shoot a defenseless man? Then again, Vader was hardly defenseless. Her face hardened as she remembered Alderaan. Perhaps he was right. Maybe he was just insane. Taking a deep breath, she knew what she should do.

"This is for all those who you murdered," Leia murmured before firing the trigger. It did not take long for Jallishka, Chewie, Han, and Luke to come running into the room. Luke took one mortified look at her and the motionless form of his father's body before turning accusing eyes on his sister.

"What have you done?"

**Next part: The End At Last**


	25. Chapter 25: The End At Last

**Revealed Identities**

**Chapter 25: The End At Last**

"Did he attack you?" Han asked worriedly.

"No." Leia's response came monotone and emotionless.

"You shot him." Luke's voice was eerily quiet and calm. "How could you have shot him? Didn't you see he wanted to change. Didn't you see that what he did for us-"

"He's not dead." Leia interrupted. "If you had bothered to look, he was just stunned." Luke's face showed his obvious relief before it was covered in concern again.

"Why did you do that?" Luke asked incredulously.

"I think he has some psychological problems," Leia replied off handedly. "He wanted me to kill him." Luke nodded, his fears rushing back from his father's words earlier that day. 'Has all of this really happen in such a short time?' Luke wondered to himself.

"I'm not surprised. I think he wants to go back and turn himself in, but I honestly don't think that he wants to put us through that," Luke said, calming himself down.

"As long as he's alright, I believe I will go back to the cockpit," Jallishka excused himself, allowing Vader's children to work things out among themselves. He personally did not like hearing that Lord Vader would have so carelessly thrown his life away. He would never understand humans.

"What are we going to do with a stunned, suicidal man on our ship?" Han asked, eyeing Anakin's motionless body on the floor with apprehension.

"He'd be a valuable asset to the Rebellion. If he's serious about wanting to change, we could perhaps set him up somewhere where he can help us defeat the rest of the Empire." Leia suggested.

"Speaking of the Empire, what will happen now that the Emperor's dead, and the second in command deserted?" Luke murmured to himself.

"Good question. I wish I knew the answer to it." Leia ran her hand through her rumpled hair.

"We don't have to tell anybody about him? Do we?" Luke asked worriedly. Leia looked at her newly found brother, and then down at her newly found, if unwanted, father.

"We'd be violating so many rules underneath the Rebellion's code. There's no guarantee that he's even truly safe," Leia argued.

"Listen, not to be prudent or anything, but the Rebellion would sooner torture Lord Vader than let him help. Think about it Leia, the Rebellion would be better off not knowing that they're getting help from the ex-Lord Vader. Let them be happy thinking he died in a bridge explosion accident. Besides, I have a few connections on Tatooine I can pull. Set him up at a base there. It's neutral territory, plus a lot of smugglers work for the Hutts there. He'd be able to fit right in without being noticed doing a little snooping around and have and help with the intelligence work. If that's what he wanted to do of course," Han suggested.

"Every time I think you don't have a brain, you do something that proves me wrong," Leia said, smiling. Luke felt some of his tension leave. If Leia was smiling after something like this happening, hopefully she had begun to accept their father.

"I don't even try sweetheart," Han smirked cockily.

"Then you do something like that, and I wonder again." Leia's smirk matched Han's.

"What do you mean? Do what?" Han asked defensively. Leia was about to retort about his over-cockiness but was interrupted by her brother.

"Not to interrupt, but my father is lying on the floor, can we move him somewhere?" Luke inquired, somewhat annoyed, his previous worries all but forgotten. Chewie growled something, and Luke looked to Han for a translation.

"I'm must be going insane, but I'm starting to wish Threepio were here so that you wouldn't always ask me what Chewie's saying. Or you guys could just learn Wookie." Han muttered before continuing. "Chewie says he'll move your father, but he wants to know where to put him, and if he should be restrained?"

"He probably should. I don't know what he's going to do. I mean, I don't think that he's a danger to us, but rather to himself." Luke agreed.

"Young Vader," Luke turned to see Jallishka waiting in the doorway. "You've received a coded transmission."

"Will you stay with him?" Luke asked, motioning to his father. The Noghri nodded, as Luke, followed by Han, Chewie, and Leia raced to the cockpit to see who was hailing Luke.

"Who knows where to find us?" Leia asked worriedly.

"I don't know."

"Hard to find, you are," Luke felt a tremor in the Force. It was a strange, but not entirely unfamiliar sense. Whatever it was, it gave him the feeling that something major was about to happen.

* * *

Luke would have laughed out loud at the irony of the situation had he been in a better mood as he watched Chewie carefully tie the former Lord Vader to one of the beds. Jallishka has promised to watch over his father, but Luke refused to leave Anakin's side.

"I want to be here and talk to him when he wakes up," Luke had informed Leia when she told him to get some sleep. They had talked a good bit about what they wanted to do with him once he woke up, and Luke had a feeling his father would agree, but what worried him the most was that his father just was not waking up. He didn't understand it. When his father had taken the sedative to fool the Imperials, the drug had worn off in record time. It was as if his father didn't want to get better. Luke began pacing the room. He could always inject an adrenaline shot into his father to force him to wake up from the stun blast, but he wasn't quite sure what that would do to him, not with his father having just healed himself from his severe damage.

It wasn't until three days later that he finally awoke.

Anakin moaned, moving slightly in his bed. Luke quickly rushed to his father's side. It did not take Anakin long to notice that he had been tightly restrained and even less time to attempt to unbind them using the Force.

"Stop! Don't struggle too much or it will release a sedative into your system," Luke explained. Anakin's eyes focused on Luke, as though he hadn't ever seen him before. Anakin relaxed his body and laid still.

"Why aren't I dead?" Anakin asked quietly.

"Leia just stunned you. She didn't want to kill you," Luke explained carefully, as if he were speaking to a five year old. It took a moment for Luke's words to register, but when they did, Anakin's eyes closed, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"She doesn't hate me?" Luke shook his head. Anakin let out a slow, shuddering breath. "Good to know." In hindsight, even if she wasn't a Jedi, killing someone in cold blood wasn't the kind of thing someone should have to do. It wasn't a path he should have placed before his daughter. Anakin sighed, feeling selfish. He had honestly wanted it to be her if he didn't die in battle. He would have been okay with that.

Anakin moved his arms slightly, trying to get more comfortable. "Why the restraints?" Anakin asked. Luke noticed that he didn't look at all upset by being tied up.

"We were afraid you'd hurt yourself." Luke replied simply.

"What are you going to do with me? I don't want you or Leia to go through the pain of having to be put on trial with me. You've already helped me enough to be considered Imperial spies yourself," Anakin said firmly.

"We've discussed it. You're too valuable to the Rebellion to spend precious time on putting you on trial." Luke hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain this next part. "Someone you know made contact with us." Anakin looked at Luke expectantly.

"His name's Yoda." Luke was not sure how he imagined his father to react, but he wasn't expecting the response he got.

"You can't be serious." Anakin's disbelieving face made him look comical, and the restraints he had on did not help the matter. Luke laughed.

"You should see your face!" Luke's laughter died down when he noticed the new look on his father's face. Anakin did not like being laughed at. Luke cleared his throat. "Sorry." He muttered, feeling himself blush.

"Would you remove these restraints now? You have some explaining to do." Anakin said, his pride somewhat hurt for being so openly laughed at by his son. Then he inwardly smiled to himself. He had been expecting his son to hate him, and now look at him. His emotions were so muddled at the moment, but for the first time in a long while, he felt himself relax, as though some sort of weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Anakin sat in between Luke and Leia at the table in the Millennium Falcon. During the time that he had been unconscious, a lot had taken place. The group had gotten rid of the Imperial shuttle and had stationed themselves on a safe planet near Gefoga. The rest of the galaxy was chaotic. With the death of the Emperor, and the supposed death of Vader, there were many uprisings within the now divided Empire as to who would gain power.

"Things are going to get worse before they get better," Anakin said somberly.

"Yes they will," Leia agreed. She was still coming to terms with believing that this man had been Lord Vader and her father. Yet there was a calm about him that hadn't been there before. A part of her had to believe that Vader, her father, could become good again. She could not bear it to think of sharing the same bloodline with a completely horrible monster.

"Make it better, we must. The more Jedi we find, the greater the chance bad things, such as this, happen not. Complete your training, you must, young Luke," Yoda said, entering the small entertainment room where the Skywalker family was gathered. He leaned on his gnarled cane, looking at Anakin with an exasperated expression before pointing at him in emphasis.

"Trust you completely, I do not. Much to learn you still have. Remember, I do, that Yadel, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and many others believed in you and your capabilities. The prophecy you have fulfilled, but much to be done you still have." Yoda said firmly. Anakin did not know what he had been expecting upon meeting the old Jedi Master again. Why had he thought that the most patient, wisest, and self-controlled Jedi he had ever known would go utterly ballistic on him, and try to kill him?

Yoda had spoken with Mon Mothma about Anakin. He had explained the situation. Darth Vader was truly dead, and Anakin Skywalker was alive. She had wanted to bring Anakin in for a trial, but Yoda had managed to persuade her otherwise. Everyone knew there was no possible way that he could get a fair trial, and seeing Yoda again had reminded the former senator of the great importance the Jedi had involving the safety of the Republic.

"Find new recruits, we will. Perhaps time it is for a new Jedi path," Yoda had explained to her. The leader of the Rebellion had promised to keep the information about Anakin's true identity to herself because of his repentance and importance. After all, one of her most trusted Generals, General Madine, had once been an Imperial until he too became a traitor to the Empire. Despite her doubts, she would trust Yoda's decision.

Anakin was not looking forward to his "assignment" with Yoda. He would have to visit places where he had wrecked or destroyed the lives of millions upon millions of people. Yet he knew he had to help find Force sensitives. Besides, Luke would becoming with them to start his own Jedi training.

"Come. Let us go," Yoda said to the two Skywalkers.

"I'm going to miss you," Leia said, hugging her twin. She turned to her father. She smiled at him, but did not offer a hug before leaving the room. Anakin sighed. She had smiled, so at least it was a start.

Anakin and Yoda waited in their shuttle for Luke to finish saying his goodbyes.

"Master Yoda I-"

"No explanations do I want to hear. Many things you did you should not have done. Some things the Order did, we should not have done. Much to atone for, you do. First atonement is to keep your mouth shut and listen for a change instead of speaking just to hear yourself talk," Anakin shut his mouth.

"So where are we going to start looking for Jedi?" Luke asked Yoda and his father excitedly. Yoda gave Luke a somewhat skeptical look.

"Patience. You must learn to control such excitement," Luke's face fell slightly, and Anakin couldn't help but smiling. He wanted to say that it was not easy being a Jedi, but considering his own failure, he did not want to be the one to say it.

"Going to Tatooine, we are," Luke and Anakin gave Yoda somewhat exasperated looks. The Jedi master ignored the looks.

"In other words you want to torture us!" Luke moaned. Yoda grinned.

"Perhaps. Now, strap yourself in, and may the Force be with you," Yoda said philosophically as he strapped himself to his seat, and took the pilot controls. He lifted off, and slammed the controls forward. Anakin and Luke both lunged forward in their seats wincing as Yoda flew recklessly into the outer space.

"Do you want either one of us to fly?" Anakin asked hopefully. Yoda only shook his head. It was definitely going to be a long road ahead of them.

**The End.**


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